Council gives Kam Drive-In tower project final OK

COURTESY ROBERTSON PROPERTIES GROUP / LIVE WORK PLAY AIEA TEAM
Artist rendering of Kam Drive In project. Main Street Entrance.

COURTESY ROBERTSON PROPERTIES GROUP / LIVE WORK PLAY AIEA TEAM
Artist rendering of Kam Drive In project. Main Street Entrance.

By Star-Advertiser staff
Plans for up to 1,500 residential units and five high-rise towers on the Kam Drive-In site across Pearlridge Center were approved by the Honolulu City Council Wednesday.

Council members voted 9-0 to approve Bill 68 giving rezoning to the Live Work Play Aiea project proposed by Robertson Properties.

The developer agreed to make at least 30 percent of its units affordable to those in lower-income categories. A first-ever development agreement reached with Robertson requires that at least half of those units be on-site.

The remaining affordable units must be either within one-half mile of the project, or near other transit hubs along the city’s planned $5.26 billion rail line.

Opposition to the project has come largely from neighbors troubled by the potential for increased traffic and the loss of view planes.

The bill allows three of the towers to be as tall as 350, 300 and 250 feet. Two others could be up to 150 feet. The current height limit is 60 feet.