Major landowners pursue unified Kaka'ako plan
By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer
The two largest private landowners in Kaka'ako have teamed up to hire a New York urban design firm to craft a joint master plan for their land holdings in an effort to create a unified vision for the redevelopment of their more than 100 acres in the area.
Kamehameha Schools and Victoria Ward Ltd. are negotiating a planning contract with Cooper Robertson & Partners, which is expected to complete a first phase of study in 30 to 60 days, according to the trust.
The project, an unprecedented attempt to coordinate development between the nonprofit trust and the private company, could facilitate revitalization of an area that has been a tough and slow-moving improvement project for the state.
Cooper Robertson has experience designing urban communities, university facilities and waterfront districts. The company was a master planner for Walt Disney Co.'s $2.5 billion utopian town, Celebration, Fla., a community created in the late 1990s that has more than 3,500 residents today.
The Manhattan firm also has been involved with the design of a $92 million business school complex at Ohio State University and redevelopment plans for riverfronts in St. Louis and Memphis, among other large-scale projects.
Kamehameha Schools and Victoria Ward, sharing the undisclosed cost for the plan, will work closely with the University of Hawai'i, which plans to build a medical school and biomedical research facility that would serve as the anchor for an envisioned biotech park between Ala Moana, Fort Armstrong, Kaka'ako Waterfront Park and Kewalo Basin.
"Together they have the opportunity and ability to develop something very strong in the Kaka'ako district," said Jan Yokota, executive director of the Hawai'i Community Development Authority, the state agency that oversees redevelopment of the area.
Mitch D'Olier, Victoria Ward's president and chief executive officer, said Cooper Robertson's plan will affect how Kaka'ako comes together as a community.
"Everything affects everything in Kaka'ako, and there's a great need for all affected parties to do some planning together," he said.
The partnership project, according to D'Olier, grew out of a joint presentation his company and the trust made several weeks ago to a UH committee considering sites for a new medical school. UH officials, he said, suggested that Victoria Ward and Kamehameha Schools work with Coopers Robertson.
"We need to rethink our options for Kaka'ako, given the University of Hawai'i's decision to situate the medical school there," said Hamilton McCubbin, chief executive officer of Kamehameha Schools. "We are ... excited about the possibilities for initiating new development and energizing existing business and industry in the area."
In recent years, both the trust and Victoria Ward have planned residential high-rises, entertainment/retail complexes and office developments for their properties. Though they shared and discussed general plans with one another, occasionally they competed against each other.
D'Olier said the new partnership will provide for greater cooperation, yet still allow opportunities for competition.
Victoria Ward, which owns 65 acres in Kaka'ako, has said it would like to see up to six residential towers, four of which are tentatively earmarked for parcels adjacent to land owned by Kamehameha Schools 'ewa of Ward Avenue. D'Olier said the joint planning could make the residential project a reality sooner.
The company also has plans to redevelop Ward Warehouse, add to Ward Centre and expand other parts of its commercial complex. He said the commissioned general plan will help Victoria Ward understand how its ideas might work with the nearby medical school and biomedical research facility.
Kamehameha Schools also has considered residential high-rise development, office, retail and entertainment projects for much of its Kaka'ako properties, which total about 55 acres.
Kamehameha Schools last week revealed plans for a $100 million high-tech office complex on 12 acres adjacent to the site identified for UH's John A. Burns School of Medicine and Cancer Research Center.
The first phase — two low-rise buildings and a 500-stall parking structure — could break ground as early as January 2003. Two more buildings and another parking structure would follow.
The trust also has approved a $10 million program to renovate many of the 50 buildings, mostly older warehouses, it has taken back from lessors in Kaka'ako.
D'Olier said he and representatives from Kamehameha Schools hope to make public presentations about their joint planning efforts next month.
Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8065.
