The developer of a residential and resort community in Ewa Beach plans to build homes on part of a nearby former plantation village site once owned by the city and slated for affordable senior rental housing.

Development firm Haseko announced that it has bought 15 acres at Ewa Villages with plans to build up to 142 residential condominiums, including some multifamily units and some single-family dwellings with collective ownership of the land.

Haseko bought the property from an affiliate of the St. Francis Healthcare System, a nonprofit that acquired the site and adjacent land from the city in 2003 for a planned senior housing project where only one of two phases was completed.

How much Haseko paid for the land was not disclosed. But the city values the site for property tax purposes at $17 million.

St. Francis acquired 23 acres from the city for $4.3 million in 2003 and planned to build 300 rental homes for seniors.

That effort, however, encountered difficulties and delays related largely to rising construction costs, financing and market demand.

St. Francis developed the 149-unit Franciscan Vistas Ewa housing complex on 8 acres for $40 million about a decade ago to serve seniors with low incomes. But the other half of the project remained stalled despite modifications.

The second phase at one point was supposed to be affordable leasehold homes where a sales preference would be given to St. Francis Healthcare employees. Later, the nonprofit unsuccessfully pursued developing 71 clustered single- family homes and 72 townhomes to be sold fee-simple at market prices to the general public.

Haseko’s plan sounds similar to where St. Francis left off.

The company said it anticipates home prices will range from the mid-$400,000s to the mid-$700,000s.

Construction is anticipated to begin early next year, followed by sales in late 2021.

The project will be Haseko’s third on the Ewa Plain. The company, based in Japan, developed Ocean Pointe and Hoakalei, under a master plan that produced a golf course and recreational lagoon first envisioned as a boat marina. A retail and hotel complex are still planned.

Haseko has built all but about 900 of 4,850 homes slated for Ocean Pointe and Hoakalei.

Tom Sagawa, president of Haseko subsidiary Haseko Hawaii Inc., said in a statement that building the Ewa Villages project will help the state economy recover from damage caused by efforts to curtail the spread of COVID-19.

“We’re pleased with this latest acquisition, as construction projects across the state will be essential to Hawaii’s overall economic recovery from the current pandemic,” he said.