The economic downturn that has derailed much of Hawai'i's real estate development activity has upended three office building complexes planned for Kapolei, but one is still trying to push through to fruition.

Honolulu-based developer Larry Stogdell of L.A. Anuenue LLC anticipates being able to start construction before the end of the year on a five-story building and adjacent parking structure that have been in the works for more than two years and would cost more than $50 million.

The project, Haumea Center, still needs to attract a few more tenants, so it isn't certain that the 141,000-square-foot complex on 2 acres between the State Office Building and Assaggio restaurant will rise out of the ground as expected.

But the advancement of Stogdell's development plan is a bright spot in the dismal local economy.

If Haumea Center is built as planned, the project would generate jobs for a few hundred construction workers and broaden employment opportunities in O'ahu's burgeoning Second City. It also would enable an Irish pub planned within Haumea Center to open.

"We expect to be the only game in town in early 2011," Stogdell said in reference to delivering new office space in downtown Kapolei.

Two other plans for Kapolei office buildings by other developers are on hold, while a third was canceled in light of the economic downturn that's curtailed expansion plans by office space users and restricted the availability of financing.

Stogdell said his project benefited from the other projects falling by the wayside. That led some prospective tenants to Haumea Center, which was fortunate to obtain a construction financing commitment in December in the midst of the global financial market meltdown.

"We were given a Christmas gift," he said of the commitment from Minneapolis-based financing firm BBG Advisory Group.

Still, to receive the financing and begin construction, Stogdell said, he needs additional commitments for about 12,000 square feet of space in the building to bring total tenant commitments to 72,000 square feet.

One new office complex in Kapolei is a dramatic scaling down from the previously envisioned four projects slated, with a total of 10 buildings as high as 150 feet. However, in time, more of the other projects are expected to be built.

"We expect to see some opportunity there going forward," said Mark Richards, whose firm, The Maryl Group, put plans on hold for three buildings at Kapolei with a collective 250,000 square feet of office space.

"The market is pretty miserable (now)."

Richards said he guesses there will be enough office tenant demand to move ahead with the Maryl project within three to five years as the economy picks up and business and job growth spur demand for office space.

Presently, office space vacancies on O'ahu are rising, according to local commercial real estate firm Colliers Monroe Friedlander.

Colliers in a report last month said 10.2 percent of existing office space on the island was empty at mid-year, up from 8.6 percent at the end of last year.

That vacancy rate equates to 1.6 million square feet, and the amount of space vacated in the first half of this year was 209,850 square feet.

"Right now (office space absorption) ... is going in the wrong direction," Richards said.

To be sure, relatively little office space exists in Leeward O'ahu, and most tenant losses are occurring in downtown Honolulu. But the rising vacancies have heightened competition among all building owners to retain or obtain tenants.

Christine Camp, president and chief executive of Avalon Development, said she put on hold a plan to develop four office buildings, each up to seven stories, known as Kapolei Pacific Center, with a total of about 300,000 square feet.

Camp said her main concern was being able to transition from construction financing to long-term financing. "We think we might be able to start sometime next year," she said.

A third planned office complex, Kapolei City Plaza, with about 300,000 square feet split between two seven- and eight-story buildings, was canceled by California-based development firm Kahl and Gouveia.

The smallest of the four developers, Stogdell is originally from California, where he primarily built homes and some small office and industrial projects. But after moving to Hawai'i in 1981, he stayed out of real estate development until 2000, when he began building speculative luxury homes in East Honolulu.

Haumea Center marks a return for Stogdell to commercial real estate development, and is his largest project to date. The plan began much smaller, as a 30,000-square-foot commercial building suited to technology companies. Early last year, an adjacent parcel was added to the plan and the building design expanded.

A company that had leased part of the site several years ago, with plans to establish an Irish pub, made a deal with Stogdell to develop the land and provide space for the pub.

A large restaurant space is also included in the building, which has about 65 tenant spaces available for lease or sale.

"All these elements came together at the right time," Stogdell said. "We were on the right wave."