Honolulu's planned elevated commuter train is expected to spur land values and real estate development for those who own property around train stations. That's because the train's estimated 95,310 daily riders are expected to generate opportunities for housing, business and employment.

However, some landowners are balking at the opportunity to host the $5.4 billion train from East Kapolei to Ala Moana. Kamehameha Schools is asking the city to move a planned station from its property at the intersection of Halekauwila and South streets to Mother Waldron Park, which is about 300 yards in the diamondhead direction. And last year, the UH-West O'ahu campus declined to have the guideway run across its future East Kapolei campus next to its library. The university cited aesthetic and noise concerns.

Kamehameha, in documents recently filed with the state, has expressed concerns about the size of the elevated train stations, which will be 50 feet wide by up to 300 feet long. The 21 planned stations also will be three stories high or higher.

"Given that the planned stations are elevated concrete structures approximating the size of narrow football fields, while they provide a service, they also provide unique and substantial challenges," Kamehameha Schools wrote in a March addendum to a master plan for the Kaka'ako area.

Kamehameha Schools is seeking to remake 29 acres of its Kaka'ako holdings into a dense, largely residential community. Those plans include building a high-rise tower on the property bordered by South, Halekauwila and Pohukaina streets. Kamehameha Schools has said its master plan is very conceptual, but if approved could lead to detailed designs and initial construction in the area as soon as late 2010.

Kamehameha Schools spokeswoman Ann Botticelli said integrating the elevated station with the landowner's development plans could be a challenge.

"It's elevated," she said. "And it is going to be big so what we have to do is work with the city to make sure that the size of it and everything is integrated into our master plan."

According to Kamehameha Schools, moving the station to Mother Waldron Park would:

• Increase ridership by moving it closer to residential buildings near the park.

• Potentially increase business for businesses near the park.

• Provide an opportunity for riders to relax before and after riding the train.

In addition, placing the station at Mother Waldron Park would provide a better park-to-park connection with Gateway Park, Botticelli said. Kamehameha Schools is proposing creating a pedestrian-friendly thoroughfare along Cooke Street between the two parks.

Placing a train station in the midst of a public park is not what the city has in mind. Rather, the city has identified train stations as prime spots for medium- to high-density housing as well as mixed-use development that could spur redevelopment and curb urban sprawl.

City Council chairman Todd Apo said he was disappointed that Kamehameha Schools isn't embracing plans to put a train station on its property.

"I obviously would like them to sort of jump on board but I also understand the realities of development," he said. "While I understand it's difficult for them to put all these pieces together, a mass transit system like this is such a great opportunity. As much as there's disappointment right now, I really hope that they come around and really embrace it and incorporate it within their master plan."

Kamehameha Schools' current plans for its Kaka'ako property don't include integration with the proposed train station. That's because it's still uncertain whether the route may be switched from Halekauwila Street to Queen Street, according to Kamehameha Schools. Three federal agencies have asked the city to alter the train's route to avoid the Prince Kuhio Federal Building for security reasons.

Botticelli downplayed the landowner's concerns about hosting the station.

"It has to do with what we envision happening in Kaka'ako," she said. But, "it's not a big deal to us. If they don't do it, they can leave the station where they want to."

Separately, Kamehameha Schools also has raised concerns about the visual impact the elevated track system will have on Honolulu's scenery and about the high costs of building the 20-mile route entirely above ground.

"We're not saying we're anti-elevated (train), we're just asking if there's a study to see if it can be a mixed system — (an) at grade as well as elevated system," Botticelli said.