Hawaii Real Estate Daily

One of Waikiki’s largest hotel owners says its wants to build the tourist district’s first new hotel in more than 20 years, the Honolulu Advertiser reports.

Kyo-ya Hotels and Resorts LP, which owns the historic Westin Moana Surfrider Hotel and other properties, is proposing to demolish an eight-story annex to the Moana and replace it with a 24-story hotel.

The new structure, which would be on the Diamond Head side of the Moana, Waikiki’s oldest hotel, would have 200 rooms, 25 condominiums and an upscale restaurant, the newspaper reports.

Kyo-ya is planning about $1 billion in renovations to its Waikiki properties. Major renovations are underway at the Royal Hawaiian and Sheraton Waikiki hotels. And the company is proposing to demolish most of the Sheraton Kaiulani Hotel and replace it with a new hotel that will cater to business and convention travelers.

Credits: Pacific Magazine

The city has started notifying residents living in the path of the planned $3.7 billion elevated commuter rail that all or part of their properties may be condemned.

The letters, which are being sent out in batches, don’t specify how much property may be needed along the 20-mile East Kapolei to Ala Moana route.

City officials said last week they could not disclose how many letters will be sent or the number of properties affected until the project’s draft environmental impact statement is released in October.

The city has budgeted $70 million to purchase land needed to build the rail system. According to preliminary plans released in late 2006, the city will acquire full or partial right of way on nearly 200 properties.

Among the landowners who received a letter recently is 76-year-old Waipahu resident Saturnina Calbero. She worries she may need to leave the Farrington Highway home where she’s lived since 1969.

The city did not disclose details about the project’s potential impact on Calbero’s property.

“I worry because they said my property is affected,” Calbero said. “I’m too old already to move out of my house.”

Potentially affected property owners are being notified now so they won’t be surprised when the draft environmental impact statement is released, Mark Scheibe, deputy project manager for Parsons Brinckerhoff, said in an e-mail to the Advertiser.

Final right-of-way requirements could still change until the project’s design is finalized in 2010, according to the city.

The property acquisition process won’t begin until the federal government approves the project’s environmental impact statement, which the city hopes will occur in fall 2009. The city hopes to begin construction on the project’s first phase, which would connect East Kapolei to Waipahu or Leeward Community College, in December 2009.

“The reasons why they (details of property acquisition) are not available is because they may be subject to change during Federal Transit Administration review,” Scheibe said. “This goes for the number of and the different types of parcels that may be impacted.”

Once the acquisition process starts, the city said it will determine the fair market value for properties and offer to pay owners that amount. If landowners refuse to sell, the city may condemn the property.
Right to appeal not set

Whether property owners can appeal a decision to condemn remains undecided. City officials have asked the council to allow for expedited condemnation under certain circumstances. Those situations include friendly condemnations and instances when small portions of land need to be acquired.

Council member Nestor Garcia said the council needs to retain some oversight of the condemnation process.

“A piddling amount (of land) to one set of eyes is a lot to another set of eyes, especially if you’re the owner,” he said. “So that’s all relative. I think what we’re going to have is the ability for people to have a right of recourse, a right of appeal whether it’s to us or to the (transit) authority.”
Waiawa’s Banana Patch

In an attempt to minimize the project’s land requirements, the city plans to build the elevated, approximately 26-foot-wide guideway within existing street rights of way and on government-owned land. However, the guideway, and its 50-foot-wide stations, will still require the acquisition of various private lots.

Overall, 89 commercial locations, 87 government or utility-owned properties and 13 residential properties could be acquired whole or in part as the rail is built, according to preliminary plans.

In addition to Calbero’s home, at least six homes in the Waiawa Banana Patch neighborhood may need to move to make way for a park-and-ride facility meant to serve the train.

The proposed Pearl Highlands park-and-ride has been identified as a key way to funnel North Shore and Central O’ahu commuters onto the rail system. Commuters along H-2 Freeway could drive to the lot, park and take the train to work, avoiding the congested H-1.

Banana Patch property owner Sam Alipio said he has not yet received a letter from the city.

Credits: Honolulu Advertiser

For the first time in five years, Windward Oahu residents will be asked to voluntarily conserve water.

The Board of Water Supply said rainfall totals are at a critical level on that side of the island. Families are urged to reduce usage by 10 percent, which is about 50 gallons a day.

Windward Oahu gets 25 percent of its water from the Waihe’e Tunnel. That’s where at the end of a 1,500 foot hike you’ll find water dripping from the ceiling. The water fell on top of the Koolau Mountains nine months ago and is only now filtering down about 2,000 feet of rock. When you see it, it looks like a lot of water but there should be much more.

“Our indicators are showing those levels are getting critical. Critical to us means we can still sustain all the demand for the windward side, it’s just at a prolonged state if we don’t get recovery in those wells in our sources then we have the possibility of threatening the long term viability of those sources which we don’t want,” said Cliff Lum, Board of Water Supply Manager and Chief Engineer.

That’s why they set up an irrigation schedule asking customers to only water their yards on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursdays and no watering between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

“Part of reason for irrigation schedule is that by having everyone water on the same three days we’ll allow our water resources to recover over four days and that’s key for us,” Lum said.

The National Weather Service said the rain gauges have only collected about half of the water they should by this time of year and there’s isn’t relief in sight.

“The long range prediction from NOAA’s climate prediction center extends the below normal rainfall forecast through the end of December,” said Kevin Kodama, National Weather Service Hydrologist.

“The secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture designated all counties of Hawaii a primary natural disaster area due to drought beginning January 1, 2008 and continuing,” said Neal Fujii, State Drought and Water Conservation Coordinator.

How long the conservation effort lasts depends on how much rain falls combined with how much water you save now.

Credits: KGMB9

Built in 1842, Honolulu’s historic residence Washington Place will soon be closed for repairs and improvements.The National Historic Landmark is one of the oldest and most historic buildings in Hawaii.

Queen Lili’uokalani,Hawaii’s last reigning monarch, once called Washington Place home. The residence also served as the executive mansion of Hawai’i’s Governors between 1921 and 2002.

Currently used as a museum to the public, Washington Place will be closed from September 3 through October 17, 2008 to undergo safety, accessibility and landscaping repairs and improvements.

The estimated cost for the project is $358,000.

During the 2008 legislative session, the Lingle-Aiona Administration proposed a $4.9 million fund to revitalize Washington Place, but the Legislature did not approve the request.

Credits: KHNL

Kapolei’s urban core is taking shape as a second city, with tens of thousands of square feet of new office and retail space to be built in the next 10 years.

Just eight parcels of land, less than 35 acres, are unspoken for in the City of Kapolei, according to officials with the James Campbell Co., which as The Estate of James Campbell began master-planning Oahu’s second city some two decades ago.

Several large projects are under construction, including Kapolei Commons, the Kapolei Judiciary Complex and Costco. More are due to start within the next year, including two office-retail buildings and a retail shopping village. A Wal-Mart store also is planned for a 25-acre parcel near the H-1 freeway entrance at the corner of Farrington Highway and Fort Barrett Road.

Creating jobs

“At the core of all of it is really job creation,” said Brad Myers, president of Kapolei Property Development Co., one of the former estate’s real estate arms. “For every job we create, that’s a car off the freeway.”

Of the projects on the boards, the first phase of the Kapolei Pacific Center, Avalon Development Co.’s office and retail project, likely will be the first to break ground this fall.

The project was recently redesigned for value engineering to mitigate cost increases, said Christine Camp, president and CEO of Avalon Development Co. The first building will be 40,000 square feet, with retail on the first floor, retail and offices on the second floor, and topped by a floor of office space, mostly for smaller users, she said.

“It’s slightly delayed, like a lot of projects,” Camp said. “The leasing is still pretty strong. We have very good interest from our initial targets.”

The four-building project will be built in four phases on three acres adjacent to the Kapolei Library along Manawai Street that Avalon bought for $6.7 million in December 2006. Avalon also is buying for an undisclosed price a 2.7-acre parcel that is zoned for business-mixed use adjacent to the Kapolei Pacific Center property.

Nearby, Maryl Group hopes to break ground on the first phase of its office-retail project, on three acres diagonally across from the state office building.

“We’ve recently reconfigured our development plan and we have scheduled now a phased multibuilding program up to 10 stories,” Maryl Group President Mark Richards said. “It would be taller than anything that’s there today.”

Each building will be between eight and 10 stories tall, with up to about 60,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and restaurant space topped by approximately 360,000 square feet of office space, he said.

The first building is in the design phase, and preleasing already has started, but no start date has been determined. Timing for the second and third phases will depend on demand, Richards said.

A third office project, which was to have been built by California-based Kahl and Goveia on three acres behind Island Pacific Academy, has been scrapped, and the land is back on the market.

Foodland Super Market plans to start construction early next year of its new store and shopping village on four acres along a yet-unbuilt stretch of Kapolei Parkway. The site of the 56,320-square-foot Kapolei Village Center is across from a half-dozen mixed-use parcels that are under negotiation, and which border D.R. Horton’s planned Mehana at Kapolei residential project.

More homes and jobs

The James Campbell Co. is working on three future projects that also will enhance the second city — the Kapolei Harborside Industrial Park, the Kapolei West residential and retail project and the Makaiwa Hills residential project. Combined, the three developments will add 6,500 homes and more than 7,000 jobs to the area.

In the meantime, the company is working on building out some $180 million in roads and other infrastructure by 2010 so that the planned projects can proceed on schedule, Myers said.

“It’s a pretty large undertaking,” he said. “I think it’s the largest private-sector [funded] public infrastructure initiative that I’ve ever heard about [in Hawaii].”

Credits: Pacific Biz Journals

The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs’ Real Estate Commission encourages nearly 15,000 active licensed real estate professionals to view their continuing education information online at: http://pvl.ehawaii.gov/rece

This new system provides Hawaii’s real estate licensees with the ability to view the number of continuing education (CE) hours required and earned for the current licensing period, their CE history, and to search for future CE courses being offered by approved CE providers. Real estate licensees may also access and reprint their own course completion certificates for the current and previous bienniums, whereas in the past this was done by the CE providers. Additionally, real estate principal brokers and brokers-in-charge may monitor and view the current CE hours, CE history, and license status of all licensees associated with the brokerage. The system is updated daily and is simple to use.

“This new system integrates all parts of the continuing education process, from provider course submission and approval to real estate licensee access of continuing education information, course offerings, and approved providers” said Neil Fujitani, supervising executive officer, Real Estate Branch. “This is an integrated system which will help manage and efficiently serve our real estate licensees.”

The development of this online service is part of the state’s ongoing initiative to improve efficiency by implementing electronic government services. Hawaii’s official Internet portal, eHawaii.gov, is managed by Hawaii Information Consortium, LLC (HIC). HIC works with the state agencies to enable them to conduct state business online and improve public access to government information.

Credits: Hawaii Reporter

Groundbreaking and traditional Hawaiian blessing festivities celebrating the start of construction on a $100 million recreational, amenity and dining clubhouse at Kukui’ula, a 1,010-acre luxury resort community on the island of Kaua’i, were held today.

Work on the Kukui’ula Plantation House (clubhouse for golf, dining and recreational activities), Plantation House Spa, a Tom Weiskopf-designed golf course and other amenities for Kukui’ula homeowners, is expected to be completed in late 2010.

“We’re excited to begin construction on several of the most critical components of our community,” said Richard A. Holtzman, president of Kukui’ula Development Company (Hawaii), LLC, an affiliate of DMB Associates, Inc., a Scottsdale, Arizona-based diversified real estate development and investment firm, and an affiliate of A&B Properties, Inc., a subsidiary of Alexander & Baldwin, Inc., one of Hawai’i’s largest private landowners.

“Our Plantation House is the gathering place for all of our social and club activities and ensures the family-oriented lifestyle we’re offering our owners. Initiating this phase of our development is a testament to the commitment of the DMB and A&B partnership to creating the most authentic expression of luxurious island living in Hawaii,” continued Holtzman.

Described as “Kaua’i’s Living Garden,” with its cool mountain hillsides and sloping fields of blossoming flowers and native plants and trees, Kukui’ula will have 21st century conveniences to support a simple and gracious lifestyle for people and families who are looking for recreation, relaxation and adventure at their own pace.

The 20,000 square-foot Kukui’ula Plantation House will feature coffered ceilings and wood beams, intimate furniture arrangements, overhanging eaves and a generous wrap-around outdoor lanai with panoramic views of the nearby Spouting Horn blowhole, the Pacific Ocean and the golf course.

A dramatic canopy of monkeypod trees will line the entryway to the Plantation House where a casual dining hale (house, pavilion) and bar, game room, library, keiki (kids) activity area, garden cafA(C) and beach-inspired pools will overlook a spectacular lawn that leads to Kukui’ula Bay.

The Kukui’ula Plantation House Spa, a retreat for both physical and spiritual pursuits, will be shaded by umbrella-sized palm fronds and scented by plumeria and pikake from the spa’s private gardens. The indoor/outdoor layout of the spa will feature treatment rooms in garden settings, a glass-walled steam room hidden in a lushly landscaped lava courtyard, fitness facilities with full cardio and strength building equipment, a movement studio, lap pool and a menu of forward-thinking wellness programs.

Already underway at Kukui’ula is an 18-hole private golf course designed by PGA Champions Tour and British Open winner Tom Weiskopf. Weiskopf, who has designed over 50 acclaimed courses worldwide, is creating a par-72 course on 200 acres overlooking Kaua’i’s sunny south shore and Po’ipu beaches and surrounded by tropical flowers, native Hawaiian plants, and fruit, macadamia and coffee trees.

For passionate golfers, where playability and memorable challenges are essential to their game, the design of Kukui’ula’s course is incomparable. To complement incredible ocean views and expansive fairways, each hole on the 7,006-yard Kukui’ula course will feature unique landscaping themes utilizing thousands of indigenous plants that mirror the “living garden” concept of the entire Kukui’ula community.

Creating A Legacy Community for Future Generations

Kukui’ula’s developers, DMB, Inc. and Alexander & Baldwin, are investing heavily in creating the island’s first legacy community. Says Holtzman, “Kukui’ula is being designed to embrace active family lifestyles, allowing for endless opportunities to reconnect with nature or fulfill personal pursuits. We believe our owners will pass these legacies on to future generations.”

Kukui’ula’s destination gardens and floral sanctuaries will feature over 10,000 native trees and once endangered flowers and plants - all in collaboration with the Congressionally-chartered National Tropical Botanical Garden located adjacent to the property.

In addition to Kukui’ula’s Plantation House and superlative golf, residents will also have access to a 25-acre fresh water lake for canoeing or catch and release bass fishing; miles of meandering paths for walking, hiking or biking; and an eight-acre upcountry farm with a resident horticulturist to teach the art and science of growing organic vegetables, herbs, tropical flowers, even orchids. Residents will also be invited to have their own space in the hothouse or plots in the garden.

Kukui’ula Village, a pedestrian-friendly retail shopping center for Kaua’i residents and visitors, will feature a collection of regional cuisine by noted Hawaii chefs, casual family-oriented cafA(C)s and a blend of local, national and international apparel and home accessory boutiques. Kukui’ula Village is scheduled to open in Summer 2009.

The 1,010-acre community includes a collection of Mauka, Makai, Rural and Coastal custom ocean view homesites and one- and two-story Hawaiian plantation-style cottages varying in size from approximately 2,030 to 4,600 square feet.
Award-winning builder Linthicum Custom Builders, LLC  is the general contractor for the Kukui`ula Plantation House and the Kukui`ula Plantation House Spa. Linthicum has operations in Hawai’i, California and Arizona.

Credits: Market Watch

Stacey Vanek-Smith: Things seem to be going from bad to worse for the housing market. Last month, the number of unsold homes hit an all-time high, and there were more than 9,000 foreclosures a day. All of that has the real estate market sounding a bit like this:

[Sound of crickets chirping]

But that’s actually good news for one kind of investor, as Jennifer Collins explains.

Jennifer Collins: Will Rogers finds undeveloped land — and tries to keep it that way. He runs the conservation group The Trust for Public Land. And lately, his job has gotten a lot easier.

Will Rogers: The current situation where values are dropping really is providing opportunities to acquire land for conservation that would otherwise be developed.

Rogers’ group and others like his tend to have a lot of cash on hand. So they’re able to buy land outright or secure better financing than private developers who rely on credit.

Rogers says since last fall, his organization has preserved a thousand acres all over the country. That land would have otherwise been destined for development. But because real estate deals are less profitable these days, The Trust can buy up the land and turn it into parks or open space.

Rogers: We sometimes refer to this as the green lining in the dark cloud of the real estate meltdown.

Take an 850-acre swath of oceanfront property on the Hawaiian island of O’ahu. The beach was about to become home to a thousand condos and a sprawling hotel. But thanks to falling property values, the developers’ financing fell through. The Trust is working to make sure the land stays just like this:

[Sound of waves crashing]

Set aside as habitat for green sea turtles and endangered monk seals.

Other groups are taking advantage of the falling property values as well. The Nature Conservancy and the Land Trust Alliance also report they’re able to secure better deals now that the real estate bubble has burst.

These groups are there to help more than just turtles and seals. Real estate brokers like Ryan Flegal say houses near open space are more valuable than those in the concrete jungle.

Ryan Flegal: Everybody loves being near a park or near some wilderness. So if somebody else is paying for that and they don’t have to, that’s all the more benefit on their property value.

Location, Location, Location. In fact, Flegal and his girlfriend just closed on a house near a couple of parks in Southern California. He says they plan to remodel the house. And thanks to the green space, they’ll be in a better position to sell when the markets are singing again.

I’m Jennifer Collins for Marketplace.

Credits: Marketplace

The University of Hawaii has received $60 million for capital improvement projects throughout the state.

The Legislature appropriated the funds, which will be used for maintenance, repairs and health and safety projects.

More than $58.5 million will be used for repairs and other facility improvements at all UH campuses, according to a statement from Gov. Linda Lingle’s office. UH Manoa will receive $41.6 million for planning, design and construction of improvements; UH Hilo will receive $4.1 million for upgrades; UH’s seven community colleges as well as UH-West Oahu will receive $12.2 million; and $500,000 will cover facility assessments and audits.

Health and safety projects for improvements to address health, safety and building code requirements will receive more than $1.4 million.

The university expects to start construction on all of the projects by June 2009.

Credits: Biz Journals

Members of the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force say Hawaii can and should take the lead in preserving the world’s oceans.

The task force is meeting this week on the Big Island.

It seeks to preserve and protect coral reef ecosystems through partnerships, strategies and support for on-the-ground conservation actions. It includes leaders of 12 federal agencies, seven states and U.S. territories and commonwealths, as well as three freely associated states.

James Connaughton is White House council for environmental quality.

He says Hawaii is a paradise, and paradise implies sustainability.

Connaughton says initiatives can be tried in Hawaii on a small scale and then applied on a broader scale.

Credits: KPUA