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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, April 27, 2004

New project sought in Hawai'i Kai

By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Writer

HAWAI'I KAI — The developer of 30 affordable rental senior apartments plans to join with two other developers to build a 296-unit apartment building on Hawai'i Kai Drive near the O'ahu Club.

Public meeting

• What: Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board meeting

• When: 7 p.m. today

• Where: Haha'ione Elementary School cafeteria, 595 Pepe'ekeo St.

The new project would incorporate five acres previously set aside for a private park for the owners of the affordable senior housing and the nearby Schuler Homes townhomes, said Mike Klein, a grant writer for Hawai'i Intergenerational Development Community Association, one of the developers.

The project, called Hale Ali'i, will be discussed tonight at the Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board meeting.

Plans call for buildings ranging in height from two to eight stories — about 90 feet — with underground parking. The site is zoned for buildings a maximum of 60 feet high.

Plans for Hale Ali'i come amid a spate of development in East Honolulu. In the past three years, nearly 1,000 units have been built or are in the works, with many of them condominiums and townhomes.

There also has been talk of adding 26 more homes in Kalama Valley and 200 new homes in the back of Kamilonui Valley.

The Hale Ali'i project already has city zoning but would require a height variance to allow for the 90-foot building, said Joseph Brown, president of 21st Century Homes, another of the developers along with Western Pacific Development.

Initially when the zoning was first granted, the site was approved for three-story buildings, Brown said.

But after meeting with residents and hearing their concerns about a neighboring project, Nanea Kai by Schuler, the developer planned to modify its working blueprints to include an enclosed roof on the taller buildings and to give up the five-acre park to create the open space the community said it preferred, Klein said.

Residents and officials have complained that the Nanea Kai townhomes are too close together, too close to the street and taller than nearby townhomes. Schuler has said that some changes had to be made at Nanea Kai because of economics and high buyer demand.

"We wanted to get away from that row of buildings on Hawai'i Kai Drive and have an open courtyard" at Hale Ali'i, Brown said. "We want to create a resort feel with water features and open space.

"We're asking the community to give us the height so we can push the buildings back, and in return, we'll give up about a half-acre for the courtyard along the street. We're trying to create a more expensive product and are looking to attract an older resident and snowbirds."

The three developers wooed about 30 residents last week at Roy's Restaurant with a presentation on the project before going to the community.

"I think he's doing everything he can to make the project have as good appearance as possible," said Bob Fowler, a Hawai'i Kai resident who is active in the community. "From the road it will have a parklike appearance."

Hawai'i Kai Drive resident Cindy Higgins, who just learned of the project, said she's tired of all the development going on in her community.

"I think aesthetically it's terrible," Higgins said. "I think we need to think about the sewers, the water and the roads. They aren't adequate for these new homes. The developers just build them and walk away with their money, leaving the community to live with the problems."

Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com or 395-8831.