Gallery of Kawamoto's homes

Four low-income Native Hawaiian families with 22 children between them could be moving into their own million-dollar Kahala Avenue homes this weekend under a plan by Genshiro Kawamoto, the Japanese billionaire who last year offered luxury rental housing to needy families for $150 a month.

Kawamoto, 75, yesterday said he recently selected the first four of eight families to each rent one of his Kahala homes for up to 10 years as a unique form of affordable housing in O'ahu's priciest neighborhood.

The enigmatic real estate tycoon did not identify the families, with whom he said he met after hearing from about 3,000 people who wrote him in response to the plan he first publicized in October. But he said he would introduce families when they move in if they approve.

"They are really good people — their kids were so cheerful," Kawamoto, though an interpreter, said of his soon-to-be tenants who he said include some shelter residents and single working mothers. "They will be living in heaven now."

Kawamoto said he experienced joy helping needy people, though it was difficult to choose families because there was so much interest. He also expects to select four more tenant families as early as next month.

The project the billionaire calls "Kahala Ave. Mission" has resulted in much public praise and encouragement mixed with a sprinkling of indignation, opposition and bewilderment.

Some observers doubted Kawamoto would follow through on his plan. Others floated a theory that he was trying to depress property values so he can buy more Kahala homes at a discount. Another suspicion expressed was that Kawamoto was trying to upset the community because some neighbors have complained that he wasn't maintaining his properties.

Another common refrain has been that there are better ways to help greater numbers of needy local families, given the investment Kawamoto is making.

Kawamoto bought the four homes for roughly $2 million to $3 million each. They also have monthly property tax bills of $400 to $900, and could rent for around $5,000 a month or more in today's market.

Miguel Martinez, a repairman who met Kawamoto about eight months ago and is helping prepare the homes for occupants, called the wealthy real estate mogul a person who wants to help.

"He's a very humble superman," Martinez said. "I think it's a beautiful thing."

Rosie De Coito, 65, wrote Kawamoto in hopes of renting one of his homes. "It has always been my wish before I leave this planet to live in Kahala near the water," she said.

De Coito said she's on Social Security disability, recovering from cancer and paying $400 a month to rent a room in someone's home while she's on a long waiting list for help from the Kalihi-Palama Homeless Project.

Kawamoto owns about 20 homes on Kahala Avenue that he bought from 2003 to 2006, and has also said he plans to convert four homes to public museums displaying his collection of Western and Oriental art.

Initially Kawamoto said he planned to rent 10 homes to needy Hawaiian families and use at least five for museums, but has since reduced the plan to eight affordable rentals to families preferably of Hawaiian descent, and an initial four museums.

Among Kawamoto's four initial homes for rent are a pair of charming Tudor-style houses built in the 1930s, a recent colonial-style remodel and a 6,489-square-foot home built in 1989.

The latter house — with five bedrooms, 5 1/2 bathrooms and a den — is intended for a family of seven or eight, Kawamoto said. Features in the home include central air conditioning, a Sub-Zero refrigerator, Wolf gas range, granite countertops and window sills, several walk-in closets and a pool cabana with gas grill.

Kawamoto is outfitting the homes with some basic furniture such as beds, dining sets and living room seating. But he has also filled in swimming pools, which existed on three of the properties, and removed walls and gates that isolated the homes from the street.

The pools, Kawamoto said, were filled in to reduce maintenance needs and liability, while the walls were removed to give the homes more of a sense of old Hawai'i as opposed to walled-off mansions common on Kahala Avenue.

More than 20 Kahala residents earlier this year complained about reinforcing bars sticking out of demolished rock walls, swimming pools filled with wall debris and, in other cases, swimming pools with green, stagnant water.

Kawamoto said he probably will take another month to complete work such as planting ground cover on the pool sites and taking care of demolished wall remnants.

As part of the rental plan, tenants will be responsible for paying utilities and maintaining the landscaping. Kawamoto, who said he typically spends about 10 days a month in Hawai'i, said he will serve as his own property manager.

The affordable housing and museum project is the latest in a long and sometimes strange and controversial series of Hawai'i endeavors for Kawamoto, who made his fortune in Japan real estate and spent some of it in the late 1980s buying nearly 200 O'ahu homes with self-described "pocket change."

Community members and politicians at that time criticized Kawamoto as one of many land speculators from Japan who drove up property values. Kawamoto said he was a long-term investor and not a short-term speculator.

For more than a decade, Kawamoto rented his Hawai'i homes, often at below market value, but did little to maintain or improve the homes, which were largely in Hawai'i Kai, Kailua and Kaka'ako. In some cases, neighbors complained that homes in disrepair hurt their property values.

Kawamoto claimed that property managers didn't inform him of the conditions of his property. Property managers claimed Kawamoto was well-informed and refused to authorize repairs.

In 2002, Kawamoto announced he would sell all his O'ahu homes, creating public concern over loss of so many rentals. He sold 60 homes quickly, and gradually sold most of the rest, after making repairs or renovations to some.

Since 2002, Kawamoto spent about $115 million buying about 20 properties on Kahala Avenue, and has left the homes mostly, if not all, vacant.

Kawamoto said he came up with the affordable housing idea as a way to give back to Hawai'i's less fortunate, after fruitless attempts over the years by him to develop large-scale affordable housing on Maui and O'ahu.

"I think it's a good thing, because the most affluent can help the least fortunate people," he said through his interpreter.

He also said in a prepared statement explaining his plan that he envisions large gatherings with dancing and singing to give the street a Polynesian flair.