Honolulu 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.