Ritz-Carlton’s first Waikiki tower to open to first guests in April

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ritz_003California developer Irongate’s The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Waikiki Beach condominium-hotel project’s first tower is scheduled to open for its first guests in late April, its general manager told PBN.

The 324-unit, 37-story first tower, known as the “West” tower, also is expected to have one of its restaurants open in April, with its second eatery — Hawaii’s first Dean & DeLuca — and its spa opening in July.

Douglas Chang, general manager of the Ritz-Carlton Residences, Waikiki Beach, told PBN on Friday that its 246-unit, 37-story second tower, or “East” tower, which began construction in February, is scheduled to be completed in the second quarter of 2018.

Both projects have created more than 600 construction jobs.

Located at 2121 Kuhio Ave., adjacent to the Luxury Row of retailers at 2100 Kalakaua that include Chanel and Gucci, the project will include Dean & DeLuca, Sushi Sho, BLT Market, BLT Bar & Grill and likely an ABC Stores Island Country Markets.

This project is the first Ritz-Carlton Residences-branded property on Oahu. There are Ritz-Carlton-branded properties on both Maui and the Big Island.

Lance Wilhelm, managing principal of Irongate’s Hawaii operation, previously told PBN that he is looking forward to finding more redevelopment projects not only in Waikiki but elsewhere in Hawaii.

Duane Shimogawa
Reporter
Pacific Business News

Residential tower could be developed at Heald College Honolulu site

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A new residential high-rise tower could be built on the site where the Heald College office building across from Ala Moana Center in Honolulu currently occupies, the new owner of the property confirmed to PBN.

Salem Partners, a Los Angeles-based investment bank and wealth management firm, which includes Managing Director Jim Ratkovich and President Bill Witte, purchased the Heald College property as well as the adjacent newly-built Walgreens flagship Hawaii store for a total of $73.5 million, as first reported by PBN.

“We are looking to do something transformative, something that sets the tone for others to develop side by side with us along Kapiolani Boulevard and throughout the district, something catalytic,” Ratkovich told PBN. “As the plan stipulates, it’s something we are very excited to be a part of and we’re writing checks to prove it.”

He said that his firm is leasing back the store property to Walgreens and is looking at several different options, including residential uses, for the Heald College building site.

“It’s a likely option,” he said referring to developing a residential project. “Given where it is, adjacent to Ala Moana Center, its location at the intersection of Keeaumoku Street and Kapiolani Boulevard, it’s something we have to study and we are working with the city and the community. We’re anxious to get this ball rolling.”

The fee simple 1500 Kapiolani site encompasses 73,103-square-feet of gross leasable space on about 43,000 square feet of land. It was being marketed as being a part of the City and County of Honolulu’s transit-oriented development, or TOD, zoning plans that recommend a possible redevelopment of the Heald College Building site into a residential high-rise.

There are currently three tenants at the Heald College building, including FedEx, Roger Dunn Golf Shops and a Japanese restaurant, according to Ratkovich, who noted that it may seek temporary tenants to fill up some of that vacant space.

Earlier this year Heald College’s parent, Corinthian Colleges Inc., closed all operations and discontinued instruction at its remaining 28 campuses, including the Honolulu campus.

The redevelopment plan for the Heald College Honolulu building is expected to be sent to the city within 18 months or sooner, Ratkovich said.

“It’s a 195-day schedule once you have your initial studies completed, [including] traffic studies, sewer capacity studies, meeting with neighborhood associations, city’s Department of Planning and Permitting, the city council and mayor,” he said. “Once you do all of that, [you’re] ready to submit the application.”

For Salem Partners, being on a distribution list regarding such properties to come up for sale was the way the purchase of these properties began.

“There were two packages, one for the Heald College building and the other for the Walgreens site,” Ratkovich said. “We immediately looked into it. We are already engaged with TOD on our other site [near the Hawaii Convention Center]. We certainly had to make a run at it.”

Salem Partners is also looking to develop a mixed-use project that could include some hotel rooms across from the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu, as first reported by PBN.

“We’re still going through our planning process,” Ratkovich said. “We’re still interfacing with DPP. We expect to submit our application on that property in the next 90 days to 120 days to DPP. It’s a great site. Hopefully it will be a nice hotel, condo-hotel, or condominium project.”

Duane Shimogawa
Reporter
Pacific Business News

Honolulu condo project on YMCA site near Ala Moana Center to start construction in early 2016

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A rendering for the Aloha Kai condominium across from Honolulu's Ala Moana Center

A rendering for the Aloha Kai condominium across from Honolulu’s Ala Moana Center

The 117-unit, 37-story “Aloha Kai” condominium project planned for the site of the YMCA of Honolulu Central branch on Atkinson Drive across from Ala Moana Center is expected to start construction by early 2016, the developer of the project confirmed to PBN Tuesday.

California-based MB Property Acquisitions LLC has partnered with the Japanese firm Tama Home on the development.

Michael Blumenthal, president of MB Property Acquisitions, told PBN that the project, which will include a new 30,000-square-foot YMCA Central branch with no residential units, a swimming pool and a sophisticated aqua facility that will cater to seniors, will have five levels of parking, with units being built atop those levels of parking.

Aloha Kai encountered a delay after the developer asked for a zoning change that included increasing the its height limit to 350 feet from 150 feet.

“It has taken a while, but we are moving forward,” Blumenthal said, noting that the demolition of the YMCA Central branch should begin in about five months. “It took a little more than a year to get the zone change, but that enhanced the economics of the deal.”

He also pointed out that the focus of the entire project has been on dealing with the YMCA Central branch at first, which will be redeveloped into a three-story, 30,000-square-foot facility.

“The plans for the YMCA [are] 95 percent complete, in terms of the working drawings,” Blumenthal said. “We really focused on designing the YMCA before jumping into the condo tower.”

The conceptual drawings for the condo tower are nearly complete, with Architects Hawaii Ltd., Swinerton Builders and Locations LLC working on the project.

The project, which will encompass about 150,000-square-feet of net saleable square footage, will have four units per floor, with a boutique-like, very private type of feel, according to Blumenthal.

The pricing of the project is still being determined, although he said it is probably going to be around $1,400 per square foot, meaning that a one-bedroom unit of roughly 600 square feet unit would be priced around $840,000.

Aloha Kai also will have a rooftop pool and all units will include lanais that overlook the ocean. There will be no commercial units in the project.

Blumenthal said he was one of the few bidders of the YMCA site to have given the nonprofit organization a portion of the site to build a new branch.

A little more than three years ago, MB Property Acquisitions announced its purchase of about 1.5 acres of the YMCA’s 1.77-acre lot for an undisclosed amount. Blumenthal said he expects to close on the purchase in about three months.

“We have substantial approvals,” he said. “We worked hard to provide a nice facility for the Y.”

The condo part of the project is expected to be completed in about two years.

Duane Shimogawa
Reporter
Pacific Business News

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Honolulu’s construction crane count continues to rise, Rider Levett Bucknall report says

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Construction cranes are signs of economic prosperity in Honolulu.

Construction cranes are signs of economic prosperity in Honolulu.

The number of construction cranes increasing in Honolulu can be attributed to the much publicized uptick in residential activity in the Kakaako neighborhood.

Tower crane counts dotting Honolulu’s skyline increased to 16 at the most recent count in November from 13 in August, according to the inaugural edition of Rider Levett Bucknall’s North American Crane Index.

Residential projects account for 53 percent of the tower cranes in Honolulu, with large commercial projects representing 33 percent of the total cranes, the report said.

Health care and hospitality projects make up a smaller percentage of the total crane amount.

While a couple of tower cranes have come down in the last six months as residential high-rise projects are completed, several more developments have begun and the pipeline of projects is likely to result in additional cranes during the next 18 months, Rider Levett Bucknall said.

The international firm known for providing property and construction consultancy advice at all stages of the construction cycle projects that the residential project growth will continue to increase both in the number and percentage of residential tower cranes based on recent ground breakings and piling activities in Honolulu.

The RLB Crane Index, which is published biannually, tracks the number of fixed cranes in major cities across North America.

Local RLB offices count the fixed tower cranes using three techniques, including a physical count, surveying its staff and contacting crane suppliers.

The crane index began in Australia in 2012 and now includes New Zealand, Southern Africa, the Middle East and North America.

The January 2015 North America report said that residential projects in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York and Seattle are responsible for the majority of cranes dominating the city skylines.

Of these locations, the majority of residential projects going up are mostly condominium and apartment developments.

With new construction developments emerging, along with an increase of redevelopment, renovation and expansion projects, Rider Levett Bucknall anticipates that tower cranes across North America will continue to increase throughout 2015.

Duane Shimogawa Reporter – Pacific Business News

Avalon to break ground on $165M Hawaii Kai residential project

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This rendering shows the plan for the 7000 Hawaii Kai residential rental project.

This rendering shows the plan for the 7000 Hawaii Kai residential rental project.

Honolulu-based Avalon Development Co. LLC is set to begin construction Friday on a $165 million Hawaii Kai residential rental project that was first planned as a luxury condominium project by a South Korean developer, and has had starts and stops during the last several years.

The cost to develop the project is pegged at $108 million, but with the land cost penciled in, the total cost of it is $165 million, Christine Camp, president and CEO of Avalon, told PBN.

Originally called the Hale Ka Lae condominium, the project at 7000 Hawaii Kai Drive, which includes two 10-story buildings and a parking structure on nearly four acres of land, is now being called 7000 Hawaii Kai.

There will be a total of 269 units at both market-rate and affordable rates.

Avalon Development was contracted in December by the landowner, South Korea-based Hanwha Engineering and Construction, to develop, redesign and obtain financing for the project. The developer is holding a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday at 10:30 a.m. at the 7000 Hawaii Kai Drive site.

Rents for the affordable portion of the project will range between $1,475 per month to $2,200 per month, while rents for the market-rate units will range from $2,200 per month to $3,700 per month. The rents include maintenance fees.

The developer said that it should finish the project in about 16 months, which would mean the second quarter of 2016.

Duane Shimogawa Reporter – Pacific Business News

Korean developer plans 234-unit condo behind Hawaii’s Ala Moana Center

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Korean developer plans 234-unit condo behind Hawaii’s Ala Moana Center

The South Korean developer that purchased a 1.4-acre lot behind Ala Moana Center in Honolulu in 2007 told the Hawaii Community Development Authority that it plans to build a 234-unit condominium tower on the site that would integrate with the city’s planned rail station.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports a consultant for SamKoo Development Co. Ltd. told the HCDA this week that the developer is offering the city a narrow piece of its property along Kona Street for the rail line and wold like to incorporate commercial and public space on the tower site at 1391 Kapiolani Blvd. to blend with the rail station, which will be the terminus of the 20-mile line that starts in Kapolei.

T he newspaper reports that within the next few months, SamKoo plans to submit a permit application under interim transit-oriented development rules pending before the Honolulu City Council.

The South Korean investors paid $26 million — or $417 per square foot, a record at that time— for the former Motor Supply Ltd. lot in 2007, but never built a planned luxury condo tower.

 

Staff Pacific Business News

Honolulu condominium project revived after seven years on the shelf

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photo3-600xx390-585-70-0Honolulu condominium project revived after seven years on the shelf

Duane Shimogawa Reporter – Pacific Business News

Plans for a nearly 140-unit mid-rise residential condominium called Skyline Honolulu, to be built on the slopes of Punchbowl crater on Prospect Street in Honolulu, have been revived after about seven years on the shelf by the developer, an affiliate of Honolulu-based Form Partners LLC confirmed to Pacific Business News.

Form Partners is the same developer for several Hawaii projects including The Vanguard Lofts in Honolulu and Robertson Properties’ $767 million planned mixed-use project on the former Kamehameha Drive-in Theater in Aiea, which was just approved this week by Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell.

Bill Deuchar, a partner of U.S. Pacific Development LLC, an affiliated company of Form Partners, for which he is also an advisor, told PBN that a much improved economy today is the main reason why the project has been revisited.

Additionally, he pointed out that Skyline Honolulu has been scaled back to offer a lower price point, although no price points have been set yet.

“[The project] may wind up being a rental apartment building or we may put it up as a for-sale project,” Deuchar said. “The way I see the market, I see so much high-end stuff. I’d rather be fighting it out in the lower-end rather than the higher-end. Our project is more community-oriented.”

He did not specify a cost to develop the project, although he noted that if it sells all of the units, it could fetch about $60 million.

The five-story project, which will include studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments, is anticipated to start construction in the first quarter of 2015 with a completion scheduled for 14 to 16 months after that.

Honolulu-based Richard Matsunaga & Associates Architects Inc. and U.S. Pacific Development were chosen to design and build the project, Deuchar said.

He estimated that it should create up to 200 construction jobs, but that some entitlements are still needed to get the project going.

Prospect Properties LLC, an affiliate of Form Partners, bought and consolidated 1.6-acres of land on the slopes of Punchbowl in 2007.

But since then, the project has not made any major moves towards development.

The consolidated purchase included five different owners/sellers of nine separate parcels made up of 12 single- and multi-family structures with nearly 20 tenants.

U.S. Pacific Development handled the acquisition, financing and the design of what was then a 95-plus unit, four-story mid-rise building made up of one-, two- and three-bedroom residences with a pool, recreation room, rooftop decks, a community rooftop deck, recreational areas and underground parking.

The company, at that time, estimated that the total project sales were expected to exceed $80 million.

U.S. Pacific Development said that it has secured agreements with the Punchbowl Special Design District, addressing community concerns and attaining all required impact studies necessary to get the special design district permit for the area.

A&B’s proposed Kakaako project will be subject of HCDA hearing

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Two groups that oppose the state’s granting of a development permit for The Collection, Alexander & Baldwin’s planned 43-story condominium project in Kakaako, will get to voice their opinions at a hearing on Feb. 19, according to an agenda posted to the Hawaii Community Development Authority’s website.

The hearing, which will be held at the state agency’s office at 461 Cooke St., will include the Association of Apartment Owners of One Waterfront Tower, which is located near the proposed project, and Kakaako United, a nonprofit made up of Kakaako residents, as well as the landowner, Kamehameha Schools, and the developer, A&B.

The groups claim that the HCDA, which is in charge of overseeing the redevelopment of Kakaako, isn’t following its own rules that it has set for the area.

Each participant in the hearing, which is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., will be allowed 30 minutes to present its position and will have an opportunity to reply to the positions presented by others.

Sales began last summer for The Collection, a $200 million, 397-unit project at 604 Ala Moana Blvd. on the former site of CompUSA. It will feature a high-rise tower, mid-rise building, town homes, and retail shops and restaurants.

Hawaii agency to decide on second condo tower at 801 South St.

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Dec 3, 2013, 6:54am HST

Duane Shimogawa Reporter – Pacific Business News

The Hawaii Community Development Authority expects to make a decision on Wednesday regarding a Honolulu developer’s plan to build a second residential tower in Kakaako with an accompanying 10-story parking garage on the site of the former Honolulu Advertiser building, the state said Monday.

The state agency that’s overseeing the redevelopment of Kakaako is holding a second public hearing on the permit application by Downtown Capital LLC, which is headed up by Hawaii developer Marshall Hung, on Wednesday at its office at 461 Cooke St., starting at 9 a.m.

The workforce housing condominium, which would include some 400 units, is part of the 801 South St. project, which includes a first phase of 635 units that have sold out.

Together, the two towers are expected to have a total of about just over 1,000 units.

The 801 South St. project is expected to cost $400 million to develop and will create 350 construction jobs.

The second building application will include a partial demolition of the back portion of the existing Honolulu Advertiser building, which was once used as a soundstage for the CBS crime drama “Hawaii Five-0.”

The Cove – Construction Update

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Building C from Above

Building C from Above

Construction continues to progress well at the Cove Waikiki.  Building A’s third floor concrete slab is being poured in place this Friday and framing of the units will begin next week.  Building B’s foundations will be completed this week and the concrete slab on grade will be in place by the end of next week. Building C’s roof trusses are currently being installed and next week the roof will be in place. We look forward to the completion of the Cove Waikiki in approximately June of 2014.

An intimate mid-rise community offering sophisticated contemporary residences.

The Cove Waikiki is Hawaii’s newest residential community for those who want to live in the heart of Honolulu. Located near world-class shopping, schools, beaches and parks, The Cove Waikiki is your destination for life.