By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Bureau
HAWAI‘I KAI — The Hawai‘i Intergenerational Community Development Association will break ground on the first phase of the Kaluanui Senior Apartments today, bringing affordable housing to low-income seniors in East Honolulu for the first time.
Construction was set to begin last year, but a portion of the land still had to be purchased by Zane Development, which will build 115-assisted-living units that will offer limited medical care, said Mike Klein, a grant writer for the nonprofit housing developer Hawai‘i Intergenerational Community Development Association. The assisted-living center will be called The Manors at Hawai‘i Kai.
This will be the first mixed-use senior development in Hawai‘i Kai where low-income seniors can purchase or rent apartments, townhomes or live in the assisted-living facility, Klein said. The first 31 rental apartments could be ready for occupancy as early as Thanksgiving, he said.
So far, more than 200 people have had their names placed on the waiting list, Klein said. After their qualifications are checked, assignments will be given on a first-come, first-served basis.
"We’ve had tremendous interest. The project has a lot of different components," Klein said. "It gives you more market breadth to offer more choices and allows the seniors opportunity to move within the development."
The new apartments, on Hawai‘i Kai Drive next to the post office, would rent for below market prices, with one-bedroom units at $400 and two-bedroom units at $436 to $726 a month, utilities included.
There is a need for more senior housing, affordable or otherwise, said Janet Johnston, Hawai‘i Kai Retirement Community administrator. According to 1990 census data, about 40,000 adults in East Honolulu — 28 percent of the population — were 50-plus years old. Of those, about 600 were considered low-income.
Hawai‘i Kai has two senior centers. The upscale Hawai‘i Kai Retirement Community on Kawaihae Street has rents averaging $3,000 a month. That center plans to open a second center in a few weeks for independent living and assisted-living, Johnston said. The other center is the Lunalilo Home for Native Hawaiians, which has been closed for renovations and is scheduled to reopen in April.
"Hawai‘i Kai is a small enough community that you don’t have to fight the traffic and everything is right here," Johnston said.
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