Duane Shimogawa | Reporter- Pacific Business News
Apr 2, 2013, 1:54pm HST
A California-based real estate developer is planning to demolish several existing single-story industrial buildings and develop a 20-story, 217-unit workforce housing condominium project with ground-floor retail space in the Kakaako neighborhood in Honolulu.
The property, at 803 Waimanu St., encompasses a little more than 21,000 square feet.
It was once on the market for $4.8 million, according to the commercial real estate property website LoopNet.
The planned project also includes parking for 245 vehicles.
According to the plans, there will be no amenities and the ground floor may include a convenience store such as a 7-Eleven.
“It seems like these types of projects are catching on,” Hawaii Community Development Authority Director of Planning and Development Deekpak Neupane told PBN. “I think as far as affordable housing goes, it’s a good project.”
It will include studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units. Neupane says that a two-bedroom unit would go for about $350,000.
Construction is slated to begin in the first quarter of next year and be done in 24 months.
The HCDA has scheduled a public hearing at which the developer, Franco Mola’s MJF Development Corp., will present its plans on May 1 with decision-making scheduled for June 5.
MJF Development could not be reached for comment.
Mola is no stranger to the Hawaii market, as he once had plans to redevelop the former Honolulu Advertiser property on Kapiolani Boulevard into a two-tower commercial and residential complex, which is now a project headed up by Hawaii developer Marshall Hung.
