Build It and They Will Come, but who is THEY? Controversy in Kaka'ako

Build It and They Will Come...but who is THEY? Controversy in Kaka'ako

- Ward Village -

and the Transformation of Kaka'ako, Honolulu

The Howard Hughes Corporation in conjunction with Victoria Ward Ltd. is one of many developers with their hand in reshaping a huge swath of Honolulu into what some have concluded to be a luxurious playground for international investors and the very wealthy.  I am a big fan of contemporary architecture and there are some amazing projects in the works here in Honolulu but I am strongly opposed to ANY large developments anywhere in Hawaii EXCEPT in Metro Honolulu. However, the shear size of this project with a heavy thumb on the luxury side of the scale means big profits for some and big housing problems for others. We can't blame the tiger for having stripes, nor the developers for wanting to develop in a way that maximizes their return on investment. But what is really going on here?

The oversight of the Master Plan for Kaka'ako falls to the responsibility of the City and State Governments and the Hawaii Community Development Authority. There is much controversy as to the effectiveness of  the HCDA and the Government to ethically manage this responsibility. As there has been a lot of wining and dining, private plane excursions, luxury lifestyle carrots, and campaign contributions being distributed in a way that would make the Borgia Popes blush. Raising concerns that politicians desperate for re-election "sold out" the locals. No surprise here that government officials seem to be dallying in doing something about it. With elections around the corner, it is a concern for many voters.

The long term plans include dozens of Residential and Commercial Developments with a centralized public park connecting the core of Kaka'ako with Kewalo Basin. Flanked with restaurants, retail shops, and commercial spaces the "Kaka'ako Plaza" will be akin to Central Park and will no doubt be a stunning environment. It's design is basically an outdoor mall focusing on commercial instead of outdoor activities. The purpose of this design is to allow for more luxury condominiums with ocean views to be developed, while posed as a public works project. Although several affordable rental and fee housing proposals have been promised, Only one affordable rental project has been completed amid the dozen or so luxury projects currently under construction in Kaka'ako. 

The one time warehouse and light industrial neighborhood renowned for it's graffiti art, is the home of car dealerships, repair shops, mom and pops, design collectives, and artists. However, there is already a cry from the community that the working class nature of the area will evaporate as commercial and residential rents are anticipated to rise dramatically in order to accommodate all the new development. Although, plans for affordable housing have been proposed, backlash from existing Luxury Condominium owners who don't want their multi-million dollar views affected by affordable housing have put the kabosh on several proposals, despite the fact the airspace's above the projects were never purchased by the HOA's in question. Instead the vociferous complaints cite HDCA rules benefiting luxury condo owners and their concerns. Forcing local developers to redesign their projects, slowing the process, much to the chagrin of the locals desperate for more reasonable home pricing, with little relief in sight over the next few years.

Hawaii has some of the lowest wages in the nation when adjusted for the cost of living and many people pay over 30% of their net income on housing and the rapidly expanding poor pay upwards of 50%,

according to Victor Geminiani - Pacific Business News Oct. 3rd Issue. With such a heavy tilt on luxury, median home prices will no doubt skyrocket, pushing many locals out of the market, allowing foreign investors to dictate housing prices. This leads many to the concern that the Kaka'ako Boom town could go bust taking the local population with it and send developers packing up their profits and heading to the next place of opportunity.

The dotted line represents the Kaka'ako neighborhood. The grey buildings are existing buildings, the blue are development projects underway and proposals, with the yellow indicating height variances.

Below is the Howard Hughes vision for Ward Village, the center piece of development in the heart of Kaka'ako, with Kewalo Harbor to the left.

"Village" seems more of an oxymoron than a description and is not the word I would use to describe the proposed future of this area, which looks more like Hong Kong than Honolulu. I think a more appropriate title would be Ward Central.