Senior housing project in works
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
A local nonprofit group that has become a leader in developing low-income rental housing in Hawai'i plans to build its sixth — and largest — senior affordable rental housing project in Honolulu.
The Tusitala Vista will be a $20 million, nine-story project with 107 units on Ala Wai Boulevard. It will be the first project in Waikiki developed by the Hawai'i Housing Development Corp. and the eighth either completed or under way in the past decade statewide.
"This is the first affordable housing in Waikiki in years," said project manager Gary Furuta. "The entire urban center has a really dire need for rental housing."
The 547 affordable rental units the Hawai'i Housing Development Corp. has built or plans is small compared with the statewide need Gov. Linda Lingle has estimated at 30,000 units, but every project helps.
"We need affordable housing for seniors in Waikiki," said Robert Finley, Waikiki Neighborhood Board chairman. "We have a large senior population and this type of facility will be good for us."
People 62 and older who earn at or below 50 percent of the area median income will be eligible to apply for an apartment.
Tusitala Vista will have eight two-bedroom and 99 one-bedroom units, and five of the units will be accessible to people with disabilities.
Amenities will include multipurpose rooms, laundry facilities and about 9,780 square feet of open space, part of which is planned as a garden area.
There will be 29 parking stalls and a loading area with egress on Tusitala Street and 36 public parking stalls accessible from Ala Wai Boulevard.
Keith Kurahashi, with the consulting company Kusao and Kurahashi, said the developer is preparing an environmental assessment for the project and has won the support of the Waikiki Neighborhood Board.
If all goes as planned, construction will begin during the first quarter of 2005 and take 12 to 14 months to complete, with the first residents moving in during the first half of 2006, Kurahashi said.
Finley, the Waikiki Neighborhood Board chairman, said the Genesis Foundation planned to build a $13 million, 11-story, 70-unit building on the same vacant parcel in 2002, but failed to get the necessary financing.
The Hawai'i Housing Development Corp. was established in 1993 by community leaders to provide rental housing for people with low incomes in Honolulu's high-priced market.
Since 1999 the group has opened affordable and senior housing at the Birch Street Apartments, with 53 family-affordable rentals; the Wisteria Vista, with 91 unit senior-affordable rentals; Kalakaua Vista, with 80 senior-affordable rentals; Artesian Vista, with 53 senior rental units; and Wilder Vista, with 54 family-affordable rentals.
The Kinau Vista, with 62 senior-affordable rentals, is being built; in the planning stages are Tusitala Vista and the Piikoi Vista, with 47 senior-rental units.
Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.
