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The Honolulu Metro Construction Boom

Hawaii Construction Boom: New Developments Coming to Honolulu, North Shore, Central, West and Windward Oahu

New developments are changing the face of Honolulu—find out what’s coming.
David Thompson
Source: Honolulu Magazine


Construction cranes rise across urban Honolulu, shifting the skyline and promising change. For those ready to move into these developments, the residential housing boom offers new places to live. For neighbors and others concerned about the pace of growth, some projects face resistance.
Photos: Courtesy of HCDA and the respective development companies.

1. GOING UP IN TOWN
From Waikiki to Aiea, dozens of new glass towers will transform the face of the city—most dramatically in Kakaako.

Ritz-Carlton Residences Waikiki Beach 2121 Kuhio Ave., $900K–$15M, 37 stories, 2016 - Rising above Luxury Row, and obstructing the ocean view of its neighbors, this controversial new addition to Waikiki is the first of two towers developer Pacrep LLC plans for the block (the other is a proposed 39-story condo/hotel).


ONE Ala Moana 1555 Kapiolani Blvd., $500K–$1.2M, 23 stories, 2014 - This swanky new condominium could literally not be closer to Ala Moana Center. That’s because it’s being built at Ala Moana Center, or, more precisely, on top of the Nordstrom parking garage. Design-wise, the building is actually two towers wrapped in one glass skin, each with its own lobby and elevators. All 205 units sold out within two days of hitting the market.


Aiea rising Moanalua Road at Ka Onohi Street, 5 buildings, 150-350 feet
- Suburb of Honolulu near Pearl Harbor - If developer Robertson Properties Group gets its way—and a zoning variance raising the height limit from 60 feet to 350 feet—a 14-acre “urban village” will sprout from the site of the old Kamehameha Drive-In Theater, across the street from Pearlridge Center. Can you picture the old Kam Swap Meet filled with 1,500 new residences and a multitude of offices and stores? The neighbors can, and they see more congestion.


KAKAAKO $300K–$700K, Two 46-story towers, Tower A 2015, Tower B 2016 - between Downtown Honolulu & Waikiki

801 South St.


Symphony Honolulu - Kapiolani Blvd. at Ward Ave, $500K–$800K, 40 stories, 2015 - Entertainment central
The Kakaako development plan envisions an urban community where people can walk to their places of work and play.


Keauhou Place & Keauhou Lane
Mixing it up - 555 South St., 40 stories + 6 stories, 2016 - Everybody knew that the Eat the Street food trucks weren’t going to have their own city block forever. Landowner Kamehameha Schools envisions filling the block with a variety of housing types, including townhomes, lofts, live-work spaces, rentals and a tower with 400 or so units. The tower is called Keauhou Place, while a six-story mid-rise, which will have restaurants and retail on the ground floor, is called Keauhou Lane. Developer Stanford Carr hopes to break ground later this year.


Halekauwila Place
Cheap rents on the park - Halekauwila Street at Keawe Street, Rentals from $956–$1,389, 19 stories, 2014 (just completed) - Built to satisfy the Hawaii Community Development Authority’s requirement for affordable rental housing, this building’s 204 units are for workers whose income is no more than 60 percent of Honolulu’s median annual income.


803 Waimanu
A shrunken giant - $200K–$450K, 7 stories, 2016 - Community outcry forced California-based developer Franco Mola to scale back his planned building from 400 feet to a measly 65 feet. Residents of Imperial Plaza—a building just 39 feet away—still complain that their neighbor to be is too close for comfort.


400 Keawe
Business and housing - $400K–$700K, 6 stories, 2016 - A new piece from the “Our Kakaako” development plan came to light recently with the announcement of Castle & Cooke’s plan to create a mix of commercial and residential space at Auahi and Keawe streets. The ground floor will feature 10,000 square feet for businesses. Ninety-five one- to three-bedroom condos will occupy floors two through six. All of it is just a half block from Waterfront Plaza.


Ward Village: Waiea
The ample lap of luxury - 1118 Ala Moana Blvd., $1.5M–$20M, 36 stories, 2016 - The Howard Hughes Corp., whose long-term plan for low-slung Kakaako involves pulling it into the sky with 21 residential high-rises, is kicking off the campaign with a pair of towers across from the Ward Stadium 16 movie theaters.


Ward Village: Anaha - 1108 Auahi St., $470K and up, 38 stories, 2016
- This fraternal twin of the Waiea tower will be the same height as its sibling—400 feet—but have more down-to-earth prices (and two extra floors, thanks to lower ceilings). Seventy-three townhomes and flats will line the street, while the tower will hold 238 one- to three-bedroom units. Its distinctive stacks-of-wavy-glass design could make this building a landmark for miles around, or at least until it’s lost among the score of other high-rises Howard Hughes plans to build around it.


988 Halekauwila - 44 stories, 2016 - Across Ward Avenue from Sports Authority (which will be replaced by a high-rise itself, someday), this 424-unit tower is being built by The Howard Hughes Corp. to satisfy its obligation to create “workforce housing” in Kakaako.


Waihonua - 1189 Waimanu St., $400K–$700K, 43 stories, 2016


The Collection - 600 Ala Moana Blvd., $300K–$700K, 43 stories, 2017 - As part of Kamehameha Schools’ “Our Kakaako” development plan, this 396-foot tower is set to arise on the block once occupied by CompUSA. Eventually, the block will feature a collection of new-urbanist abodes, including townhomes and four-story mid-rise condos.


2. CENTRAL AND WEST SIDE
A mix of sprawling new communities and small expansions of existing neighborhoods will beef up the stock of single-family homes and duplexes.

Hoopili - $300K–$600K, 11,750 homes, construction begins 2015 - Developer D.R. Horton hopes to break ground on its massive and much contested development next year, kicking off a construction project that could be underway for the next 20 years. Eighty percent of Hoopili’s homes will be mid-rises, townhomes and other multi-family dwellings, while 20 percent will be single-family homes, with 3 million square feet devoted to commercial and industrial uses. This makes the development more of a small city than a simple subdivision.


Koa Ridge - 3,500 single- and multi-family homes, first homes 2016 - After more than a decade of protests and legal challenges, Castle & Cooke’s long-in-coming Koa Ridge housing development has yet another obstacle to overcome: the Sierra Club’s appeal of the State Land Use Commission’s rezoning of the land from agricultural to residential and commercial use. If Castle & Cooke prevails, it expects to begin building in late 2015, with the first homes available for occupancy in 2016. Construction is expected to last 10 to 15 years. The development is slated for 576 acres of former pineapple fields between Mililani, Waipio Gentry and the H-2 freeway. Opponents object to the loss of the last bit of farmland between Pearlridge and Wahiawa, the impact on drinking water downslope from the development, and the worsening of the region’s already hellish traffic.


Kapolei
Awakea at Mehana
Townhomes in the Second City - $300K–$500K, 115 townhomes, 2016 - The latest installment of developer D.R. Horton’s fast-growing Mehana subdivision features two solid blocks of two- and three-bedroom townhomes mixed with spaces for small businesses.


3. COUNTRY SPRAWL
Modern mid-rises, low-rises and townhomes face mixed reactions across the island.

Kailua
Ka Malanai - Kailua Road at Aoloa Street, $400K–$900K, 153 units, 2015


**These are actually just some of what's in the pipeline for Honolulu** This city & metro is going to look so different over the next decade it's not even funny!