Kahala senior project advances
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Writer
KAHALA — Construction could begin as early as January on the new 270-unit senior housing center on the Star of the Sea School campus, a project that first was proposed 13 years ago and has generated considerable concern among neighboring residents regarding traffic.
The independent living facility also will have 60 nursing units, 20 memory support (Alzheimer's) units and 42 assisted-living units on the 7.9 acres of the Star of the Sea Church grounds previously devoted entirely to the school. As part of the development, Kahala Senior Living Community Inc. will build a new early learning center, gym and priest quarters for the church, chairman Chuck Swanson told members of the community Thursday night.
The units range from one to three bedrooms and cost from $336,000 to $750,000, not including monthly services.
Nordic PCL has been hired to construct the six-story main building, nursing unit, the underground parking garage and assisted living unit and the early learning center. The designs and plans are before the city's building department, Swanson said. Construction should take about two years to complete.
Almost 200 people have made reservations for units in Kahala Nui, as it will be called, Swanson said. Nearly 90 percent of those who have made a reservation are from the surrounding community, said Joyce Timpson, vice chairman of Kahala Senior Living Community Inc.
The project will help fill a growing need for appropriate accommodations for Hawai'i's elderly. About 14 percent of the state's residents are 65 or older, and the senior population is increasing two to three times faster than on the Mainland.
The main entrance to the church, the school and the senior living center will be off tiny Malia Street. While increased traffic is expected, planners have tried to address residents' concerns by increasing on-site parking and working out traffic patterns intended to take pressure off the street during morning drop-off at the school.
"We have given a lot of attention to access because the community is concerned about noise," Swanson said.
The project was first proposed in 1989, when Kahala Senior Living Community Inc. operated as Episcopal Homes of Hawai'i. The project stalled in 1994 after $12.4 million had been spent on planning an marketing. The state had given its approval in 1991 for a facility with a maximum of 309 independent-living units, 20 assisted-living units and 60 nursing units.
To alleviate residents' concerns, the Wai'alae-Kahala Neighborhood Board last week urged the project's proponents to make a concerted effort to talk to the neighboring community. The contractor needs to let the community know in advance when work will start and offer a hot line number in case of problems with noise and dust, said Richard Turbin, board chairman.
"Residents are going to have to speak up if something is happening that bugs them," Turbin said. "They have to do it politely, but firmly. These major construction companies usually bend over backward to accommodate neighborhood complaints."
Gerri Digmon, a member of the Wai'alae-Kahala Neighborhood Board who lives in the neighboring 'Ainakoa community, was concerned that even with all the attention to parking and access, it won't be enough.
"All this traffic plan sounds well and good now," Digmon said. "But what about when it's built?"
Crews will first start on the early learning center and the underground parking garage, said Armand Cote, the owners' representative. This way, the contractor will have access to the site, Cote said.
"We're pleased with the way the project has gone," he said. "We feel confident that we'll do the job with minimal disruption to the church."
