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Kady Pascual

Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

ʻi Festival was an athletic event for sure.

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Karleeoyama

<title>Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Preparation is key</title>

Today’s social media find comes from @KarleeOyama, who actually made it to the Made in Hawaiʻi Festival.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Preparation is key

This year’s Made in Hawaiʻi Festival was an athletic event for sure.  Make sure you follow @KarleeOyama on Instagram! For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up here for our free Daily Edition newsletter!

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros Headshot

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros

Government & Politics

Aloha Spirit

Hawai’i Fire Department, Federal Fire Hawai’i and Hawai’

Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife, continue to fight the wildland fire near Kunia Camp on Kunia Road that prompted an evacuation Tuesday afternoon, according to a 

 post Wednesday afternoon. The fire was 60% contained spanning 600 acres and evacuation orders for Kunia Camp and Kunia Headstart School were lifted before 6 p.m.

“Air assets, including HFD's twin-engine Bell 429, DOFAW and Army National Guard, are making water drops,” the post read. “No injuries have been reported and no structures have been impacted.”

 resident and former manager Helio Arana saw the smoke and rushed to it, arriving to Lot 99 minutes after it started, he told Aloha State Daily on Wednesday.

“There were really, really strong winds, so once it reached the mountain, the fire exploded,” he said. “It was pretty intense. I was nervous, but it was exciting to see the efforts by the first responders, military and the excellent air team. They really are heroes.”

Arana, who previously served as the property manager for nine years, also jumped in to help. He directed the ground firefighters to access roads in front of the flames and notified neighbors on the north-end lot to secure their farm animals. 

They don’t know the area as well as I do, so I told them to go toward that gate to get in front of it," he said. "I felt I had a responsibility to be there and I wanted to be there to help in any way that I could."

He says the neighborhood is a "beautiful farming community" that grows fruits and produce. His lot has mangoes and seven different kinds of banana trees, he said.

“Last night, the whole mountain was red, maybe a mile long going up the mountain,” he noted. “It was about two to three football fields away from my farm – so close we could hear the crackling. Once it reached the mountain and those trees, the fire exploded."

The danger now, he said, is if the fire reignites and comes down the mountain toward Wai

Arana added, “We appreciate the response. HFD got there quick, the coordination with the helicopters and the spotters was something I

. Real quick response from the authorities, so I commend them and want to thank them for being there. We need them. Otherwise, it would have burnt the north side of our farm, guarantee

Arana said the last fire in Kunia he remembers was about four years ago. Plus, “because of what happened in Maui, they had do to something." Since wildfires continue to occur across the Islands, he suggests Hawai

ʻi invests in the Super Scooper aircrafts he’s seen used in California.  

still pretty windy. At night, the wind died down, so that helped.

“Today mother nature did its part and helped with some sprinkling. That was a blessing.”

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Kunia fire 08 25

<title>‘They really are heroes,’ says Kunia farmer of wildfire responders</title>

Helio Arana, resident and former manager of Kunia Loa Ridge Farmlands, shares his account of Tuesday’s brush fire that burned 600 acres. He said it was growing fast due to high winds and credits local authorities and “the excellent air team” for "stopping the fire in its tracks." He also helped direct firefighters to access roads, while notifying neighbor farm owners.

‘They really are heroes,’ says Kunia farmer of wildfire responders

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Construction of the third section of Honolulu's Skyline rail system has taken another step forward as transit officials ready for the second segment to open this fall.

A blessing and groundbreaking ceremony was held earlier this week at the future site of the 

Ka‘ākaukukui, or Civic Center, station in Kaka‘ako for the next phase of the project, the city center guideway and stations.

The CCGS project includes the construction of nearly three miles of elevated guideway and six rail stations, starting near the 

Kahauiki, or Middle Street Transit Center, station and ending at the the Civic Center station, just east of the intersection of Halekauwila and South streets, an announcement from HART, or 

the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, noted. Construction is expected to be finished by 2030.

The first part of the work will begin in the Iwilei area and includes drilling shafts for the columns that will support the guideway, the announcement noted, adding that working hours will span from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and Saturdays as needed. HART officials say the hours, though, depend on where they're working.

HART — the public transit authority responsible for planning and building the rail system for the City and County of Honolulu —  

 for the design and construction of the CCGS project to Tutor Perini Corp. in August 2024.

CEO and Executive Director Lori Kahikina told Aloha State Daily Monday afternoon that reaching this point is "very meaningful for this team."

It's the second or third time that HART has tried to procure the last segment, she said, "and to finally actually do it, what a milestone it was for all of us."

Utility work for this segment of the rail has been underway for the last two years, but Kahikina said the hope is that the utilities will be finished in the Downtown Honolulu area by the end of the year and the Dillingham corridor by next summer.

"But soon you'll start to see the shafts being drilled and the columns coming up also before the end of the year," she says. 

"Then, once you start seeing the columns come up, of course then the guideway goes on top of that, but simultaneously, they'll start the stations," Kahikina continued. "So maybe in about two years, you'll see stations start to come up."

"Everything's going to be foundation work, then you'll just slowly start to see structure come up out of the ground," Deputy Project Director Matt Scanlon told ASD.

Kahikina says it's premature to talk about possible detours and general road closures, but she noted that the state Department of Transportation director had some "questions and concerns, so we want to see how can we change some of the maintenance and traffic to make sure we minimize the impact."

"We're not going to be able to eliminate it — it is a reality of construction — but hopefully it's not going to be as intrusive as Dillingham  ... . But [it's] a little bit premature to share how many lanes we're going to be closing and in what direction."

Anyone who's driven Dillingham Boulevard in recent years has witnessed the ongoing work that has shifted traffic patterns and caused delays.

Scanlon says that once contractors begin building the guideway, "they'll put down more of a permanent barrier."

On Dillingham, they'll largely be "building in the middle, so you'll see more of a fixed maintenance of traffic setup and then they'll just have an assembly line," he explained. "They'll start with the foundations and then the columns and they'll build the guideway, so it'll start to look like an assembly line going down the road and a little less haphazard than the utilities were, with cones moving around a lot."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Segment Two"}]

 and spans just under 11 miles from East Kapolei to Aloha Stadium. This section includes the rail's first nine stations: K

aualakaʻi (East Kapolei), Keoneʻae (University of Hawai‘i-West Oʻahu), Honouliuli (Hoʻopili), Hōʻaeʻae (West Loch), Pouhala (Waipahu Transit Center), Hālaulani (Leeward Community College), Waiawa (Pearl Highlands), Kalauao (Pearlridge), and Hālawa (Aloha Stadium).

The second section, running 5.2 miles from Aloha Stadium to the Middle Street Transit Center, is on track to open in October.

This portion will add four more stations to the route: Pearl Harbor, the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, Lagoon Drive and Middle Street.

Trial operations just began late last month and the safety certification is being done in coordination with city state and federal agencies, 

(Eastbound passengers take note: you have to exit the train at the Aloha Stadium station before it enters segment two. Once the train returns westbound to the station, you can board the train to continue your trip).

Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi announced during his State of the City address in March this segment of Skyline would 

According to Kahikina, segment two is in "system demonstrations," which measures the train's service availability and evaluates its performance and reliability.

Tsuda said they need to reach a 30-day rolling average of 98.5% availability.

"Once we finish that, then we have met all the requirements and we can turn it over to DTS for revenue service," he says. "Right now, based on where we are, we are still on track for the Oct. 15 grand opening and then the 16th ... for passengers to ride."

HART also has to "safety certify the system," which will run concurrently with this demonstration, he noted.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Lessons learned"}]

What lessons have HART learned from earlier segments of the rail that they can use during the construction of the third?

[{"type":"text","text":"There's a whole list, Kahikina says."}]

"We've gone through a number of items as we finished off segment one and turned over to [Honolulu's Department of Transportation Services], and as DTS has been operating segment one, they've provided some lessons learned that we're implementing," Project Director Vance Tsuda told ASD.

Among the changes you might see include the canopies on the station platforms, he noted. For example, segment one and two have a tensile fabric canopy but segment three will have a more traditional metal roofing material.

Scanlon said, too, that the way the guideway is being built is also changing.

The first two segments have been constructed with "precast segmental construction," where individual segments, "almost like Lego pieces," were built off-site in West O‘ahu and trucked in, he explained. The segments were then assembled with an overhead gantry, or overhead suspended crane, and tensioned together.

"We're going to be building the city center with a more traditional pre-cast girder system," Scanlon continued.

Before, the stations were tired more to when the guideway came through, he says.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"We're building for the first time six stations at once.\""}]

Scanlon says that building the guideway and stations independently will allow the contractor to start the stations much sooner than in the first two segments, and will save both time and money.

More information about the rail project can be found at 

25 0227 CCGS Blessing Site 33

<title>HART breaks ground on next phase of Honolulu rail project</title>

A blessing and groundbreaking ceremony was held Aug. 11 at the future site of the Ka‘ākaukukui, or Civic Center, station in Kaka‘ako for the next phase of the project, the city center guideway and stations.

HART breaks ground on next phase of Honolulu rail project

Real Estate

Business & Tourism

The Park on Keeaumoku, a more than $500 million mixed-use project nearing completion in Honolulu's Ala Moana neighborhood, is set to welcome its first residents later this year.

Located on 3.52 acres along Ke‘eaumoku Street between Liona and Rycroft streets, it's the first project for Ke‘eaumoku Development Owner LLC, which is owned by Nan Chul Shin, who also owns Nan, Inc., the project's general contractor.

Wyeth Matsubara, chief operating officer of Ke‘eaumoku Development and a vice president at Nan, Inc., told Aloha State Daily in an email this week that the first residents are expected to move in this September.

The Park on Ke‘eaumoku will have a total of 972 residential units — 826 market-rate and 146 affordable condominiums — in two 44-story towers. You'll also find nearly 72,000 square feet of commercial space and, as the name implies, a park. 

Ground broke on the project in August 2022

"Construction of the residential portion and amenities are near completion," Matsubara said, noting that the remaining work is focused in residential common areas, like lobbies and the amenities deck; commercial spaces; and on the start-up and testing of equipment like fire alarms, sprinklers and air conditioning.

Sales for the project began in July 2021, Matsubara says, and so far 690 of the market-rate units, about 84%, have been sold, with 136 still available, including a few residences on the development's highest floor.

Another 57 of the affordable units have been sold, about 39%, with 89 still available. While those sales were slow at the start due in part to the "restrictive terms" of the City and County of Honolulu's affordable housing program, Matsubara noted that interest and sales have been picking up.

"The Park's initial sales enjoyed a high velocity and absorption of units due to the market conditions at the time," Matsubara told ASD. "While sales have been steady, condo sales in the general market have been slow due to overall economic trends. But we have the lucky timing of being the only brand new, nearly move-in ready product on the market compared to competing projects which all have several years before completion.

"What has surprised us is the reverse trend of affordable sales, which are picking up now after being slow at the beginning, unlike other projects under easier [affordable housing] programs where those sold out first," he continued. "People are realizing that our affordable units are a sleeper value with the same sizes as our market units, the same floor plans, lānais, parking and full use of the extensive amenities."

As for the commercial component of the development, Matsubara says those units will be located on the bottom two floors of the residential towers, dubbed the Rycroft Tower and Liona Tower, as well as a commercial-only mid-rise tower between the two high rises.

Meanwhile, he says that The Grove at The Park on Ke‘eaumoku, which can be found directly in front of the commercial spaces, will "deliver a sense of gathering that will benefit the businesses and residences in the project."

Matsubara says that commercial leasing activity "continues to progress steadily," and that a majority of the commercial spaces are now leased or in advanced stages of negotiation.

Approximately 20% of the commercial spaces are not in lease negotiations, he noted, but interest has picked up as the project nears completion.

According to Matsubara, the potential tenant mix includes a range of food and beverage operators that span fast-casual to service-oriented options offering Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Italian, Mexican and Hawaiian cuisine, as well as specialty coffee and desserts. Additional tenants include professional service providers, as well as finance, dental, real estate and wellness professionals, he said.

"We're particularly excited to announce that our Food Hall is almost completely leased out and will be among the first operators to open for business," he says. "Food Hall tenants include some local favorites while a few tenants will be brand new to Hawaii. Featured restaurants in the Food Hall will include island favorites such as Feast By Jon Matsubara, King of Thai Boat Noodle, Soul Chicken, Hatsuhana, Ninja Sushi and more."

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Preparation is key

Kady Pascual

Social Media Editor

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Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Preparation is key

Authors

Kady Pascual

Social Media Editor

More in Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

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