Honolulu Metro Construction Projects Rundown

[dgreco]

it has a nice "suburban" relaxed feel to it... I don't understand the state capital though... seems like an odd building to me.

[urbanguy]

^The state capital building is very ugly. I think that there was one before they built this one though (not entirely sure). It's design is supposed to mimic a volcano crater, the center opens up to the sky and has a slight uplift as it were the walls of a volcano.

BTW, I recently found out what the max height limit for parts of the downtown area is and its 450 ft. so technically they could build slightly taller buildings than the First Hawaiian Center, just depends on the design (setbacks).

[urbanguy]

Here's a rendering of a smaller project in the "2nd City" aka Kapolei

The Kapolei Court Complex, at Kapolei Parkway and Kamokila, would feature 13 courtrooms and a juvenile detention center.

[dgreco]

Here's a rendering of a smaller project in the "2nd City" aka Kapolei

The Kapolei Court Complex, at Kapolei Parkway and Kamokila, would feature 13 courtrooms and a juvenile detention center.

[urbanguy]

^haha yeah it does now that I think about it.

More updates: There's a proposed new Stadium to replace the "Aloha Stadium" where the pro-bowl and many other events are held yearly.

Here are some excerpts from the Honolulu Advertiser:

The declining condition of Aloha Stadium has prompted lawmakers to consider tearing down the 32-year-old facility and replacing it with a new $300 million complex in West O'ahu. The 100-acre Aloha Stadium site in 'Aiea could be sold to help pay for a new stadium.

[dgreco]

^haha yeah it does now that I think about it.

More updates: There's a proposed new Stadium to replace the "Aloha Stadium" where the pro-bowl and many other events are held yearly.

Here are some excerpts from the Honolulu Advertiser:

The declining condition of Aloha Stadium has prompted lawmakers to consider tearing down the 32-year-old facility and replacing it with a new $300 million complex in West O'ahu. The 100-acre Aloha Stadium site in 'Aiea could be sold to help pay for a new stadium.

[urbanguy]

Here's another smaller project

Artist's rendering of Hale Alii, a luxury condo planned for Hawaii Kai

Klein, a major shareholder, and his partner, Joe Brown, are pushing for the taller height, which would allow a 10-story complex instead of a 7-story one.

[urbanguy]

Proposed Kewalo Basin Projects

ENVISIONED IMPROVEMENT WORK

# Repair of piers and numerous condemned boat slips

# Renovation of Fisherman's Wharf restaurant building

# More restrooms

# 12,000 square feet of new retail space

# Convenience store

# Restaurants

# Bait shop

# Fuel station

# Modified Ala Moana intersection, allowing left turns into harbor area from 'ewa-bound direction

# Road connection to Ala Moana Beach Park

# Only $5.5 million of the $14.1 million required, enough to replace three piers, is included in Gov. Linda Lingle's biennial budget. Other work would wait until money is available.

# Anticipated $5.5 million first phase of work

# Replacement of piers B, C and Herringbone (piers C and Herringbone have structural damage limiting the number of vessels they can service.)

# (On Pier B, 22 of 28 slips are condemned.)

[dgreco]

Here's another smaller project

Artist's rendering of Hale Alii, a luxury condo planned for Hawaii Kai

Klein, a major shareholder, and his partner, Joe Brown, are pushing for the taller height, which would allow a 10-story complex instead of a 7-story one.

[808RSX]

Here's another smaller project

Artist's rendering of Hale Alii, a luxury condo planned for Hawaii Kai

Klein, a major shareholder, and his partner, Joe Brown, are pushing for the taller height, which would allow a 10-story complex instead of a 7-story one.

[urbanguy]

^I hear ya! Oahu, well the entire state is in serious need for some afforable housing especially rentals. People are being squeezed out of the islands leaving behind only the super rich who only live their part of the year.

dgreco, I'm not sure exactly when but i'd imagine that it will break ground this year if they can get an approval to build higher than the current height limit.

[urbanguy]

'Boutique' condo sales begin

Source: Pacific Business News

Sales will begin this weekend for a new "boutique" condominium building in Makiki.

The Chelsea is to be built at 1310 Pensacola St. The five-story building will have 42 one-bedroom units measuring 650 square feet and two, two-bedroom units measuring 950 square feet. Units will have maple cabinets and granite countertops. Many units will have two parking spaces.

The units also will feature lanais measuring about 200 square feet, according to Daniel Kaneshiro, representative of Pensacola Chelsea Building LLC, the developer of The Chelsea.

Groundbreaking is scheduled for June, with completion targeted for summer 2008. Prices will start at $335,000.

*I don't have a rendering for this project but will post it when it becomes available.

[urbanguy]

Another proposal this time an 18-story building!

Stanford Carr Development is buillding an 18-story, 196-unit apartment and townhouse complex in Kakaako for moderate- to low-income tenants.

The project, called Halekauwila Place, will consist exclusively of rental units and will be built on a piece of vacant land at Halekauwila and Keawe streets, Carr announced Thursday at a local commercial real estate conference.

Carr said the project had just received the approval of the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation, which oversees the development of affordable housing.

He said the tower will include a four-story parking garage and studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments and three-bedroom townhouses built at the street level.

--There are no renderings yet but it is a welcome project that helps address affordability!

[urbanguy]

Halekauwila Place I likes!

Stanford Carr picked to build in Kakaako

Source: Honolulu Star Bulletin

Stanford Carr Development has been selected by a state housing agency to build an affordable rental project in Kakaako.

The developer expects to break ground for Halekauwila Place in the middle of next year on the site, a 1.25-acre parcel at the corner of Halekauwila and Keawe streets. The parcel is currently leased to the operator of a commercial parking lot.

The Hawaii Housing Finance & Development Corporation chose Stanford Carr from four applicants that responded to a request for proposals the agency issued last fall.

Carr plans to build an 18-story complex with 196 units -- a mix of 32 studios, 58 one-bedrooms, 86 two-bedrooms and 20 three-bedroom townhomes. The project will also have a parking garage and possibly ground-floor retail space.

Stanford Carr, which is developing the project as Halekauwila Partners LLC, will need to obtain subdivision approval as well as a planned development permit from the state Hawaii Community Development Authority

[urbanguy]

UPDATES: Here are pics of some skyscrapers U/C in HNL

900 Kapiolani & Keola Lai in the central portion of the city = Midtown taken by grfxgrl2000 at flickr.com

Capitol Place & The Pinnacle in the CBD taken by grfxgrl2000 at flickr.com

Capitol Place & The Pinnacle by !!wat_dat!! at flickr.com

Ward Village Shops Project by Miss Vix at flickr.com

[urbanguy]

Here are some updates, smaller stuff to add:

Shriners hope to raise $14 million for new hospital

This artist's rendering shows what the new $73 million Shriners hospital will look like once construction is complete in June 2010. Construction at the Punahou Street site begins in August.

An artist's sketch shows what THM Partners' completed warehouse building is intended to look like.

[urbanguy]

Housing project caters to active seniors

Leihano Village in Kapolei aims to be different from earlier senior-living projects

This project looks pretty darn good but it's not cheap or affordable IMO especially for the boomers.

Boomers, forget the likes of the Club Med. Brookfield Homes Hawaii and Kisco Senior Living believe the next generation of adult communities will boast wellness amenities that allow aging in place while pursuing the active lifestyles that baby boomers have made commonplace.

Brookfield and Kisco yesterday announced plans for Leihano Village, which the companies are calling Hawaii's first combined age-restricted adult and continuing-care community.

The 40-acre Kapolei development, which will cater to those 55 and above, will offer independent living and continuing-care accommodations.

The project is slated to open in 2009.

Unit prices will range from $300,000 to $800,000, and monthly amenity fees will range from the mid $2,000s to the mid $3,000s.

[urbanguy]

Sorry for not having been around for a while but here is an update!

New Kapi'olani luxury condominium going up

Source: honolulu advertiser

A South Korean company has bought a vacant lot on Kapi'olani Boulevard fronting Ala Moana Center with plans to develop a luxury condominium tower, extending Honolulu's residential high-rise boom.

The 1.43-acre site at 1391 Kapi'olani Blvd. sold for $26 million. The lot was previously home to an automobile dealership and is a block 'ewa of the Nordstrom store under construction.

At $417 a square foot, the sale is at or near record values set for the area in the early 1990s during the height of the speculative Japanese investment bubble.

"It's shocking," said Steve Sofos, president of Sofos Realty Corp. "It's a really high number."

The purchase suggests that Hawai'i's real-estate market hasn't cooled enough to dissuade developers from bidding up land values to new heights and from building riskier projects like condo towers that typically take two years to complete.

Ricky Cassiday, a local housing market analyst, said there has been some softening in sales of existing luxury homes on O'ahu, but new luxury home projects generally haven't been weakened by the broader residential real-estate market slowing.

"There hasn't been a slowdown at the high end (for new homes)," he said. "The further up in price, the stronger everything is."

Sam House Development LLC bought the Kapi'olani site last week from Motor Supply Ltd., which has owned the property since 1944 and received heavy interest from prospective buyers after a lease with a Cutter automobile dealership ended.

Sam House is affiliated with Seoul-based SamKoo Development Co. Ltd., a conglomerate that traces its history back to a cleaning supply manufacturing business started in 1958.

Rachael Chung, an agent with Concepts Unlimited GMAC Real Estate, which represented Sam House, said the buyer plans a luxury condominium. More planning still needs to be done to determine the size of the project, unit prices and a development timetable, she said.

The property has a 250-foot building height limit and is considered fairly ideal for a residential tower. That's in part because of possible ocean views at higher floors and proximity to Ala Moana Center.

The Sam House project is the latest announced residential high-rise in Honolulu, where roughly a dozen towers are in various stages of development, including seven presently under construction.

Four condominium towers have been completed in the past year or two, including luxury projects Hokua and Ko'olani in Kaka'ako. At least four more are still in the planning phase, including the 300-unit luxury project Allure Waikiki.

[urbanguy]

Here's a rendering of Honolulu's newest luxury highrise:

Allure Waikiki

This is an artist's rendering of the 300-unit Allure Waikiki tower, whose condos are priced from the mid-$700,000s to $1.8 million.

PROJECTS IN WORKS

In addition to Allure Waikiki and the Watermark, Waikiki high-rise projects include one planned for possible residential use and one hotel-condo tower under construction.

The potential residential tower is planned at 2121 Kuhio Ave. on a vacant site once occupied by Hula's Bar & Lei Stand. Developer K3 Owners is contemplating a 220-unit residential condo or time-share, or a hotel condo with 140 hotel units and 120 residential units. A K3 principal said a decision on what to build hasn't been made. Construction is expected to begin around the end of next year at the earliest.

Waikiki's fourth high-rise project, the 38-story Trump International Hotel & Tower Waikiki Beach Walk, broke ground in January after a November one-day sellout of its 464 hotel-condominium units for an average $1.5 million.

The Trump project involving Donald Trump and Irongate Capital is slated for completion in 2009 at Kalia and Saratoga roads.

[urbanguy]

Towers of office space to fill Kapolei skyline

Source: honolulu advertiser

Get ready for the Kapolei "skyline."

Three office/retail projects under way in O'ahu's Second City could add as much as 900,000 square feet of leasable space to the region over the next few years.

Take the combined space offered by the Ke'eaumoku Sam's Club and Wal-Mart stores, about 310,000 square feet, multiply that by three, and that's just a little more than what's to be constructed in mostly office space within a one-mile radius in the heart of downtown Kapolei.

FOUR TOWERS

Avalon Development Co., developer of the Kapolei Pacific Center, has perhaps been the most aggressive in pushing its project.

The project is next to the Kapolei Library and would have four towers of up to seven stories in height with about 300,000 square feet of leasable area. The company plans to break ground this fall and have the first tower completed about a year later, said Steve Kothenbeutel, Avalon development associate.

UP TO 8 STORIES

The Kapolei City Plaza is being developed by California-based Kahl and Goveia on property next to Kapolei Pacific Center and behind Island Pacific Academy, said Brown of Hawaii Commercial Real Estate.

Two towers are envisioned

[urbanguy]

Here's the latest proposal for Honolulu. The location is right near the CBD.

Source: Honolulu Advertiser

Construction will start early next year in Nu'uanu on the first retirement community in the Islands geared to moderate-income seniors.

The $90 million, 171-unit facility at 15 Craigside Place is expected to open by December 2009, and is designed to serve a population whose long-term care options are limited in the Islands.

[urbanguy]

Source: Honolulu Advertiser

This artist's rendering shows the city's new 10-story, $73 million emergency operations center in Downtown Honolulu. Completion date is 2012.

When finished in 2012, the center will house offices for the fire, police and emergency medical services departments, along with emergency dispatchers, the state Department of Transportation and others.

[urbanguy]

Plans for new Hawaii cancer center speed up

The Cancer Research Center of Hawai'i

Source: Honolulu Advertiser

These images show a close-up rendering of the new Cancer Research Center, left, and its future location in Kaka'ako.

The 320,000-square-foot, $200-million-plus cancer center will be financed and built by a private investment firm, which will lease it to UH.

[urbanguy]

Alright here's an update. There's good and bad news for Honolulu.

Sources: Honolulu Advertiser and Star Bulletin

The bad news first....

Plans for a new medical office building near Chinatown have been dropped by Seattle-based developer, who has decided to forego the project to pursue other developments.

HighMark Investments LLC, which had planned to build a 225,000-square-foot medical center at 230 N. Beretania St., is now trying to sell the 65,000-square-foot lot, on the fringe of the city's Chinatown redevelopment district across from Aala Park, for between $14 million and $16 million.

The good news... It looks like the skyline may see a 400 ft'r and a mid-rise of unknown height in the Kaka'ako area.

Woodridge Capital LLC is proposing to build a 400-foot-tall condo with 295 units on a site between existing luxury high-rises Hawaiki Tower and Ko'olani just 'ewa of Ala Moana Center, plus a mid-rise building with 64 moderate-priced units on a nearby parcel.

The Los Angeles-based company hopes to start construction late next year and complete work in 2010.

They will be built along side these fellahs

[urbanguy]

Affordable condo going up in Salt Lake

Source: Honolulu Advertiser

Construction on Country Club Village 6, a 17-story tower with 269 units planned moderate-priced high-rise in Salt Lake, is slated to begin in November.

Blah