honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, May 17, 2005

901 new homes planned in 'Ewa

By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer

The rapid pace of home buying on O'ahu has led Haseko Homes Inc. to seek approvals for the next residential neighborhood of its master-planned 'Ewa Beach community, Ocean Pointe.

Haseko recently submitted a planned development housing application for 901 single-family and multifamily homes, a community facility and parks on 143 acres between the existing Barbers Point Golf Course and a proposed Haseko golf course.

The addition would be the fourth neighborhood of Ocean Pointe, which Haseko started selling in May 1998, and enable the company to keep pace with a booming housing market.

If approved as expected, the additional phase is expected to start sales and construction in mid-2007, according to Richard Dunn, executive vice president of Haseko Realty Inc.

Dunn said the company hopes to start construction of the golf course around the same time or before the homes, though much of the timetable for both projects will be determined by market demand. "It all depends on the economy," he said.

To date, Haseko has built and sold about 1,500 homes at Ocean Pointe, nearly a third of the roughly 4,850 homes planned for the community that is also envisioned to have a hotel, commercial center and marina.

Home sales have picked up significantly over the past year for Haseko, which expects to sell just under 400 homes this year compared with its historic annual average of 250 to 300.

Haseko still has nearly 900 homes yet to be built in its current neighborhood, but if the sales pace continues the company could run out of permitted land on which to build in about two years.

"There is such a demand for housing right now," Dunn said. "Given the demand in today's market, we're having to plan further ahead."

A public hearing on Haseko's permit application will be held on June 14 at 1:30 p.m. in the Mission Memorial Auditorium at 550 S. King St.

Application materials are on file with the Department of Planning and Permitting seventh-floor offices in the Honolulu Municipal Building at 650 S. King St., as well as Wai'anae, Waipahu and 'Ewa/Pearlridge/

Hale'iwa satellite city hall locations. More information about the application and public hearing is available from the city at 527-6044.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8065.