Two Honolulu developers put a ceremonial shovel in the ground Thursday for ‘Olohana, a 247-unit affordable rental planned for the corner of Pi‘ikoi and Young streets in Makiki. The $150 million project is meant for households earning 30% to 60% of area median income. The building itself is still a Monday appointment.
Aloha State Daily reported that Tradewind Capital and Stanford Carr Development broke ground Nov. 12 at 1105 Pi‘ikoi Street. Financing closed Tuesday. The mix is expected to include studios and one-, two- and three-bedroom rentals, and construction is expected to take about 18 to 20 months. Stanford Carr’s start date was more literal than the ceremony: fencing goes up Monday “and we start building.”
A Hostel Lot and a Lease That Ran the Clock
Tradewind Capital, the investment arm of Tradewind Group, acquired the property in 2017, when it was the site of Plumeria Hostel. Chris Fong, vice president of development at Tradewind Capital, told Aloha State Daily the parcel was “encumbered with a ground lease until 2023.” The lease ending, he said, was the chance to reimagine the site. Years of planning, design, financing and entitlement work sat between that date and Thursday. Nine years after the purchase, the next construction item on the calendar is still a fence.
Fong placed the lot in the urban core, outside the Ala Moana transit-oriented development neighborhood, and zoned for business and mixed-use residential. It is within walking distance of schools, grocery stores, retailers, restaurants and employers. The name is already doing neighborhood work. ‘Olohana is a Hawaiian transliteration of “all hands,” and it was the Hawaiian name for John Young, an advisor to King Kamehameha I and the namesake of the Young Street the project fronts.
A First Joint Venture, and a Familiar Promise
‘Olohana is a partnership between the two local developers. Stanford Carr Development, a Honolulu firm founded in 1990, says it has developed more than 5,500 homes and apartments across O‘ahu, Maui and Hawai‘i Island. Carr called the groundbreaking a great milestone and said his firm’s projects have come in ahead of schedule and under budget. Fong called the same event a major milestone and described the rentals as critical affordable housing for a dire need on O‘ahu…