A recent vote by the Honolulu City Council canceled plans to relocate two city agencies to a building in the heart of Chinatown. That set back hopes for new economic development for the area.
Architect Dean Sakamoto says he believed Chinatown was poised for new economic development when the City and County of Honolulu signed a lease for three floors in his building on North King Street.
His architecture firm and a nonprofit occupy the first floor of the King Liberty Center. The plan was to locate two city agencies on the three floors above, putting dozens of city workers in an area that the city has talked about revitalizing for years…