With roughly 4-to-5 odds, the chances of being selected to buy a condominium unit in a planned second tower at 801 South St. in Kakaako are pretty good for people who entered a lottery slated to be held Saturday.
More than 500 prospective buyers entered the lottery in which the order of selecting a condo in the 410-unit planned tower is being determined by random selection.
Participation in the sales event isn’t quite as high as it was a year ago when nearly 700 people entered a lottery for units in the first 801 South tower featuring 635 units.
The difference is attributed to units in the second tower being bigger and pricier while an income restriction is the same for buyers.
Units in the second tower with one to three bedrooms are priced from $352,000 to $699,000. That compares with studios to two-bedroom units that sold for $250,000 to $500,000 in the first tower.
Despite the differences, the response was welcomed by 801 South developer Downtown Capital LLC, a firm led by local veteran affordable-housing developer Marshall Hung.
"This response confirms the developer’s belief that a successful development is possible if you provide a quality product at an affordable price point for the middle-class working people of our community," Jason Nishikawa, the project’s lead broker and a vice president of real estate firm Marcus and Associates, said in a statement.
Both towers are being developed under state workforce housing rules set by the Hawaii Community Development Authority that gave Downtown Capital a 100 percent density bonus in return for making at least 75 percent of the units affordable to households earning no more than 140 percent of Honolulu’s median income.
The maximum income level equates to $84,574 for a single person, $96,656 for a couple or $120,820 for a family of four.
One difference Downtown Capital agreed to for the second tower is to ensure that at least 75 percent of the units are sold to buyers meeting the income restriction.
HCDA’s rule requires only that 75 percent of units be "set aside for purchase" by buyers under the income limit.
In the first tower, the developer satisfied that requirement by exclusively offering units for 60 days to income-restricted buyers. Downtown Capital ultimately sold about 65 percent of units — roughly 400 out of 635 — to buyers under the income ceiling.
In the second tower, the developer will see that at least 75 percent of units are sold to income-qualified buyers.
Downtown Capital is still accepting applications for a second lottery for units in the tower because not every applicant may qualify or complete his or her purchase. That lottery is scheduled to be held April 12, followed by anticipated construction this summer.
