Posted on: Thursday, June 10, 2004
Chinatown projects to proceed
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
After eight months of delays, the city has agreed to move forward with a bill to allow loft space in historic Chinatown and to drop an unpopular companion measure that would have expanded the Chinatown Special District and imposed building height restrictions.
The action comes after the administration won concessions from developers on two pending projects.
Bill 43 has deleted all provisions relating to expansion of the special district, which had been opposed by developers, community groups and the city Planning Commission. It now only amends city ordinances to allow residential lofts in the historic core of Chinatown.
The bill will be discussed at the City Council's Zoning Committee meeting June 22.
The Planning Commission rejected the expansion plan in September, and since then all plans for building a private affordable condominium project, a state elderly affordable housing residence and developing any lofts to foster a culture and arts district in the area have been on hold.
"Now that the ideas are separated, the lofts can move forward," said Rich Richardson, a member of the Nu'uanu Merchants Association. "For eight months we have been holding our breaths. Now that it is free, I don't see too much resistance."
Vito Galati, a partner in Downtown Affordables, said his 23-story, 251-unit affordable condominium project is sold out and he can finally move forward with construction. The project was within the special district expansion and would not have been allowed under proposed height restrictions.
"We have submitted a foundation permit and expect it to be issued any day now," Galati said. "We've had a lot of discussions with the city and we have worked closely with them. We have made some changes to our project to accommodate their desires."
Galati said the complex, located next to A'ala Park on North King Street, will now have a "retail/commercial presence" on the King Street side but the height is unchanged.
"We are now in a situation where we are happy with the design and they are happy with the design and we are expecting the permits will be issued any day now," he said.
City planning and permitting director Eric Crispin last year said an expanded district would reduce height limits to preserve the view plane and create an appropriate entryway into Chinatown. At that time, he said that both Galati's project and the state's senior project were unsuitable for the area in terms of how they were designed, although both met established zoning requirements.
Ben Lee, city managing director, said that after hearing comments at public hearings and the Planning Commission, Mayor Jeremy Harris sent the bill back to Crispin to address some of those concerns.
"(Harris asked) to see if it was necessary to expand the district or not," Lee said. "We were concerned about a big high-rise building coming up and the mayor told Eric to work with them to meet the goals and objectives of the special district.
"Once those revisions were made and the developer basically agreed to provide retail space on the ground floor enhancing King Street, we said let's just move forward with the loft because that has a lot of interest."
Marvin Awaya, executive director of Pacific Housing Assistance Corp., said his company has been selected to develop the 15-story elderly affordable housing residence near the OR&L building for the Housing and Community Development Corp. Awaya said only minor changes were needed for their project and as soon as construction drawings are completed, the project will be put out to bid.
"The fact that two projects were going up at the same time in the (city's) view would have changed the character of Iwilei, (and) may have contributed to that delay," Awaya said. "It's back on track now."
Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.
