A local real estate developer is offering to sell more than 100 former military munitions bunkers bored into the sides of Kipapa Gulch on Oahu following a recent move by the federal government relinquishing ownership of the property.
The cavelike bunkers — which are outfitted with a heavy steel door, ventilation system, loading dock, parking and electrical hookups but no fixed power supply — are being marketed as industrial condominiums.
Each 4,000-square-foot unit costs a little less than a midprice residential condo on Oahu: $300,000.
The units, however, are strictly for industrial storage uses. Several storage yard lots are also for sale in the gulch between the Waikele and Royal Kunia subdivisions.
"Just about anything can be stored here, from retailers’ product inventory to automobiles, furniture, parts and equipment for anything as well as industrial machinery," said an announcement from local brokerage firm Savio Realty Ltd.
The land is zoned for preservation, but the storage use was allowed by the city as a continuing grandfathered use, according to the company.
There are 120 big bunkers and eight smaller ones spread over 515 acres. The whole site is owned by Ford Island Ventures LLC, which property records show was granted a deed for the land from the Navy in December after holding a lease on the site since 2003.
A predecessor of Ford Island Ventures was promised the property as part of a deal with the Navy whereby the development firm affiliated with Texas-based Hunt Cos. provided the Navy with new and renovated housing.
The development company leased the bunkers in 2005 to a Savio affiliate, which re-branded the site as Waikele Storage Park and rented the bunkers to tenants including contractors, a fireworks distributor, a wine merchant, a car dealer and a self-storage operator.
Savio Realty principal Peter Savio said he has a contract to buy the property from Ford Island Ventures and is dividing the land into what amounts to underground fee-simple warehouse condos.
"We’re getting a really strong response," he said. "Originally (the bunker complex) was sitting there and no one knew what to do with it. I came up with the idea for storage. They are 4,000-square-foot warehouses."
Savio said almost 95 percent of the bunkers are leased to tenants. He is offering a $25,000 discount to existing tenants interested in buying the unit they rent. Any buyer must honor leases of existing tenants.
Selling all the bunkers would raise about $36 million. There is also 1.2 million square feet of lot space available for purchase at prices ranging from $15 to $30 per square foot.
The bunkers were long used by the Navy to store more than 56,000 tons of ammunition until the explosives were removed in 1993.
One of the rented bunkers was the site of an explosion in 2011 that killed five workers of an ordnance disposal company who were disposing of confiscated illegal fireworks.
