A recovering real estate market on the island of Oahu has created a new push by developers to plan the construction of a total of seven high rise residential condominiums for Honolulu. The first building to be built will be a 340-unit tower in Kakaako named Waihonua. Alexander & Baldwin is the developer for Waihonua and has already started to accept nonbinding reservations. Chris Benjamin, who is in charge of Alexander & Baldwin’s real estate division, stated, “We’re encouraged by the positive response we’re seeing.” Construction for Waihonua is expected to start by the end of 2012.
The Symphony project was also recently announced by developer OliverMcMillan in partnership with local landowner Joe Nicolai. They are hoping to build a 400-unit residential tower across the street from the Neal Blaisdell Center on the corner of Ward and Kapiolani. The partnership is still waiting for state approval, but has stated that once that is given, sales would begin as early as the summer of 2012.
The MacNoughton Group will be co-developing a tower to be built over the Nordstrom parking garage at the Ala Moana Center. The time table to build this 210-unit residential tower has not been announced, but a company spokesperson has stated that they would like to begin sales before Thanksgiving.
There are a total of four other towers that are being considered. Two buildings may be built on the location formerly used by the Honolulu Advertiser in Kakaako. California developer Jason Grosfeld has purchased a lot in Waikiki which is still zoned for high-rise condominium development. Finally, Alexander & Baldwin also has stated that they would be interested in building a tower on the corner of South Street and Ala Moana Boulevard in Kakaako which was once occupied by CompUSA. Alexander & Baldwin did clairfy that they would prefer to finish the sales in their Waihonua building prior to making plans to build another high-rise building.
Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser, 2-26-2012, www.staradvertiser.com
Posted by Jeff Uyemura-Reyes, Broker-in-Charge, Realtor
Global Executive Realty, LLC
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