Honolulu just bought itself a big foothold in Chinatown’s housing future, closing on an aging apartment building at 175 N. Pauahi Street as part of a broader push to add more affordable homes in the urban core.
The deal, finalized April 1, cost the City and County of Honolulu about $4.52 million. The three-story walk-up holds 42 residential units, but only four are currently occupied, according to city officials. The plan, they say, is to first stabilize the property, get the existing units back into use and then take a harder look at whether the site should be renovated or potentially used for other community-focused projects.
As reported by Hawaii News Now, the roughly 8,231-square-foot parcel sits at the corner of N. Pauahi and River streets on the edge of Chinatown and was acquired by the city’s Department of Housing and Land Management. The outlet notes that just four of the building’s 42 units are occupied and that, before any major overhaul, the city will focus on basic site stabilization and property management so it can move units back onto the market as quickly as possible…