Posted on: Friday, April 9, 2004
'Now is the right time to build'
By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer
Developers of the planned condo at the corner of Ward Avenue and Kapi'olani Boulevard quietly erected signs and a near-finished sales office recently on the site, which is still ringed by a chain-link fence.
Prudential Locations, however, has taken reservations and $2,000 deposits for nearly all of roughly 113 units that will be sold as a first phase of the 225-unit tower.
The response was not unexpected given the recent rushes of sales at other Kaka'ako high-rise condos, such as Hokua, Ko'olani and Moana Pacific, which generated overwhelming interest among buyers, some of whom camped for days to reserve a unit.
The 909 Kapiolani project is the more affordable of the four condos, with prices averaging a little under $500,000 and starting as low as $260,000 for one-bedroom, one bath units.
An agent with Prudential did not respond to requests for more sales information yesterday or Wednesday.
But project manager Hong Lee with developer Posec Hawaii Inc. said he was pleased that the long-delayed project is moving ahead just as Hawai'i real estate sales boom.
"Right now the market is quite strong, and the supply is short," he said. "Now is the right time to build this condominium."
The Posec project was initially envisioned nearly 10 years ago, as the South Korean subsidiary of Pohang Iron and Steel Co., now known as POSCO Engineering & Construction, bought the 1.3-acre property in 1995 for $12.5 million.
A downturn in real estate at the time shelved the plan, then designed as a luxury property called Emerald Tower. An alternative plan to move forward with a senior-living high-rise ended in 1998 because of trouble in the South Korean economy and a disputed impact fee calculated by the state.
Construction of 909 Kapiolani is anticipated to cost about $50 million, and begin toward the end of this year, Lee said.
The 32-story tower is designed with five decks of parking, a recreation deck and space for a street-level convenience store and a coffee shop-type of restaurant. Details are online at www.909kapiolani.com.
Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8065.
There was no mad dash of prospective home buyers lining up to place early dibs on the latest high-rise condominium project in Kaka'ako recently, but units have been going fast at 909 Kapiolani.
