Economists Believe that Demand Will Be There for All the New Condominiums

A total of 5,000 new condominium units and 1,000 rental units have been planned to be developed in Oahu’s urban core over the next decade. While some people are questioning if there will be enough demand for these new buildings, many local economists and real estate experts believe that the increased supply won’t even be noticed. Paul Brewbaker, the chief economist of TZ Economics, commented, “It’s not a question of will there be enough buyers. The problem is, will there be enough condos?”

Below is a list of the planned buildings:

Waihonua, located on Queen Street, is being developed by Alexander & Baldwin Inc. Currently 321 of their 341 units have been sold. The building is scheduled to be completed in March 2015.

One Ala Moana, is located above the Nordstrom parking garage at the Ala Moana Center. The 210 units have been sold out. The MacNaughton Group and the Kobayashi Group are the local developers in partnership with the Howard Hughes Corp.

801 South Street was marketed as moderately priced building. All 635 units have been sold through a lottery drawing. At that time 300 lottery entrants did not secure a unit. Marshall Hung is the developer of this building.

Symphony Honolulu is located on the North West corner of Ward Avenue and Kapiolani Boulevard. Sales are expected to begin this summer.

404 Ward Avenue is the address of a new moderately priced condominium tower that the Howard Hughes Corporation will be building. Prices have not been specified as of yet. Sales are expected to begin this year. The building will have approximately 400 units.

1108 Auahi Street is the address of a new mid-luxury condominium tower that the Howard Hughes Corporation will be building. Prices have not been specified as of yet. Sales are expected to begin this year. The building will have approximately 300 units.

1140 Ala Moana is the address of a new luxury condominium tower that the Howard Hughes Corporation will be building. Prices have not been specified as of yet. Sales are expected to begin this year. The building will have approximately 200 units.

The Collection is a project being done by Alexander & Baldwin. Located at the site of the former CompUSA store on the corner of South Street and Ala Moana Blvd, the project will include 466 units including several townhouses. Sales are expect to begin later this summer.

803 Waimanu is a project being developed by Franco Mola and will be located on Waimanu Street near Cooke Street. The project will feature 217 units. Sales are expect to begin later this summer.

Aloha Kai is a planned project on Atkinson Drive on the property that is currently being occupied by the Central YMCA property. The developer is still seeking a city zoning change. The building would have 128 units.

Halekauwila Place is a rental project with 204 units being developed by Standord Carr.

690 Pohukaina is also a rental project with 804 units. The project is being planned by Ohio-based Forest City Enterprises Inc.

Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser, 6-3-2013, www.staradvertiser.com
Posted by Jeff Uyemura-Reyes, Broker-in-Charge, Realtor®
Global Executive Realty, LLC
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Forest City Enterprises Selected to Build Tower in Kakaako

The Hawaii Community Development Authority has announced that they have selected Forest City Enterprises Inc. to be the developer to build a rental apartment tower in Kakaako.  The property will be built at 690 Pohukaina Street near downtown Honolulu, and the tentative plan is to build a 650 foot tall tower with 804 rental units.  Forest City had a backup plan of building two smaller 400 foot towers if approval to build a mega tower is not given.

The project is expected to cost $293 million and there are some very specific rental requirements already in place.  A total of 390 of the units will be considered to be affordable and be given to tenants with no more than 120 percent of Honolulu’s median income.  Another 390 units would be restricted to tenants earning no mote than 140 percent of the city’s median income.  The remaining units would be rented to anyone regardless of their social-economic position.  Forest City announced that they would also build 24 luxury penthouse apartments for rent. 

Assuming that permitting moves according to schedule, the project would start construction in 2016 and be completed in 2019.

Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser, 12-13-2012, www.staradvertiser.com
Posted by Jeff Uyemura-Reyes, Broker-in-Charge, Realtor®
Global Executive Realty, LLC
www.myhawaiihomesearch.com
www.myhawaiicondo.com
www.myhawaiidreamhome.com

Forest City Enterprises and Lend Lease Willing to Build 400 Foot Towers Instead of 650 Foot Tower

The Hawaii Community Development Authority had originally hoped to construct a 650 foot tower in Kakaako at 690 Pohukaina Street and had solicited bids by both Forest City Enterprises and Lend Lease to come up with designs.  The concept of creating extra tall mega towers was championed by Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie, who felt that it would benefit the city’s urban design and allow developers to deliver affordable housing to Hawaii’s population.  However, the thought of building a tower 250 taller then the current tallest building has generated a lot of public outcry.  As a result, both Forest City Enterprise and Lend Lease have public stated that they would be willing to build towers at 400 feet, is that is decided by the Hawaii Community Development Authority.

Forest City commented that they have three proposals submitted and have no preference on which one is selected.  The first would be to build one 650 foot tower.  The second would be to create a 560 foot tower and a 400 foot tower.  The third plan would be to build two towers at 400 feet each.  Lend Lease has proposed building two towers, with one being 400 feet tall and the second, if approval is given, being 650 feet tall.  However, they could easily reduce the height if the second tower to 400 feet.

Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser, 11-21-2012, www.staradvertiser.com
Posted by Jeff Uyemura-Reyes, Broker-in-Charge, Realtor®
Global Executive Realty, LLC
www.myhawaiihomesearch.com
www.myhawaiicondo.com
www.myhawaiidreamhome.com

690 Pokukaina - Lend Lease and Forest City Enterprises Submit Bids

Developers Lend Lease and Forest City Enterprises Inc. have both submitted bids to build a 650-foot residential tower in Kakaako located on state owned land located between Keawe Street, Pokukaina Street and Mother Waldron Park.  The Hawaii Community Development Authority has asked both companies to submit preliminary proposals as to what they would build if they were given the contract

Lend Lease has stated that they would like to build two residential towers with a total of 1,002 units within them.  One building would be 650 feet tall and contain 605 units while the second one would be approximately 400 feet tall and contain 397 units.  Per Lend Lease’s proposal, half of the units would be reserved for people or families earning between 100 percent and 140 percent of Honolulu’s median income.  Lend Lease stated, “Creating a residential sub-community of 2,000 residents near the proposed Halekauwila transit station will create a vibrancy that has been missing for decades since the time the area was an authentic residential neighborhood.”

Forest City would build only one 650-foot tower which would contain 804 total units with approximately half of them meeting the same workforce housing income limits that Lend Lease’s development would follow.  Forest City offered a second proposal which would build three towers on the two acre lot.  However, the biggest difference would be that all of Forest City’s unit would be rentals.  Jon Wallenstrom, an official for Forest City, stated, “We’re really focused on the workforce housing.  It’s important to bring significant workforce housing into the core of Honolulu.”

Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser, 10-25-2012, www.staradvertiser.com
Posted by Jeff Uyemura-Reyes, Broker-in-Charge, Realtor®
Global Executive Realty, LLC
www.myhawaiihomesearch.com
www.myhawaiicondo.com
www.myhawaiidreamhome.com

690 Pohukaina - Two Companies Submit Bids to Build 650-foot Tower in Kakaako

The Hawaii Community Development Authority (HCDA) has announced that Lend Lease and the Affiliates of Forest City Enterprises Inc. have both submitted bids to build a 650 foot tower in Kakaako. The project, tentatively called 690 Pohukaina (street address) would cost approximately $500 million to construct and would contain both residential and commercial units in the building. Lend Lease has built more then 450 residential project around the United States and is currently building military housing at Hickam Airforce Base and Aliamanu Military Reservation. Forest City has done military housing construction in Hawaii including projects for the Navy and the Marine Corps. Forest City is also known for building high rise residential towers including the New York by Gehry which is the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere at 870 feet.

However, it is still unclear if the HCDA will be allowed to build a 650 foot tower in the first place. The current height limit is 400 feet high, and it is generally anticipated that the public and environmental interest groups will challenge the proposed height increase. If everything is approved, the Hawaii Community Development Authority believes that construction may begin as early as 2016 with a completion date in 2019.

Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser, 9-11-2012, www.staradvertiser.com
Posted by Jeff Uyemura-Reyes, Broker-in-Charge, Realtor®
Global Executive Realty, LLC
www.myhawaiihomesearch.com
www.myhawaiicondo.com
www.myhawaiidreamhome.com

Developers Submit Plans for Potential 650 Foot Tall Condominium in Kakaako

The Hawaii Community Development Authority has announced that several developers have submitted competing proposals to build a new 650 foot tall condominium tower on state land in Kakaako. The property would be located on a 2.2 acre lot and is tentatively called 690 Pohukaina, or its potential property address. The proposals would be reviewed an be open for public hearings either in December 2012 or January 2013.

Currently, there is a height limitation for buildings in Kakaako of 400 feet. However, the Hawaii Community Development Authority is considering increasing this to 650 feet to help decrease urban sprawl. However, several environmental groups have expressed their concerns and have openly opposed this plan. These groups have stated that they would fight the proposal to increase the maximum height of buildings in court, if necessary.

Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser, 9-1-2012, www.staradvertiser.com
Posted by Jeff Uyemura-Reyes, Broker-in-Charge, Realtor®
Global Executive Realty, LLC
www.myhawaiihomesearch.com
www.myhawaiicondo.com
www.myhawaiidreamhome.com