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[{"type":"text","text":"The Three Stooges..."}]

Smile 26 3 5

<title>Daily Smile: Thursday, March 5, 2026</title>

The Three Stooges...

Daily Smile: Thursday, March 5, 2026

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Arts & Entertainment

Aloha Spirit

Singer, songwriter and starlet Dolly Parton, who died last week at age 80, once owned a home, operated a restaurant and performed in Hawaiʻi. Parton was laid to rest in a private funeral service on Friday in Nashville beside her late husband Carl Dean, 

With a career that spanned seven decades, Parton is known locally for the 1988 episode of her ABC variety series, “Dolly,” called “My Hawaiʻi,” which featured Palani Vaughan, Melveen Leed, The Brothers Cazimero, Danny Kaleikini, Al Harrington, and more.

Aloha State Daily reached out to the Hawaiʻi State Archives, which is part of the Department of Accounting and General Services, to ask about photos of Parton in Hawaiʻi. Staff at the archives were able to pull these photos for readers.

In honor of her life, Blue Note Hawaiʻi is hosting a special event, Kelly Vohnn’s Dolly Parton Tribute, on Monday, Sept. 14, which benefits The Dollywood Foundation. Parton created the foundation to inspire children to achieve educational success and it implemented her Imagination Library, which gives books to children under five years old to inspire a love of reading. Tickets start at $30. 

The governor of Tennessee has announced plans to 

Looking for more historical photos? The Hawaiʻi State Archives 

contain photos, musical instruments, and information about genealogy, land, court records, government records, and more. There are 

 More content can be found by visiting the archives where visitors should bring photo ID and be ready to leave purses or bags in a locker at the front. 

Dolly Parton

<title>Dolly Parton in Hawaiʻi: Photos from the Hawaiʻi State Archives</title>

Dolly Parton, who died last week, has a number of ties to the Islands, where she once operated a restaurant and owned a home. Staff at the Hawaiʻi State Archives found some historical photos of her time on Oʻahu to share with Aloha State Daily readers.

Dolly Parton in Hawaiʻi: Photos from the Hawaiʻi State Archives

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Corey Idleburg

Viewpoints

Real Estate

Buying a condominium in Hawaiʻi is often the most realistic path to homeownership for local families. The mortgage fits. The price is lower than that of a single-family home. It feels like the door is finally open.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Then the HOA bill arrives."}]

New data from the U.S. Census Bureau, collected for the first time in 2024, confirms what many Hawaiʻi condo owners already know from experience. Hawaiʻi has the second-highest homeowners' association fees in the nation, with a median of $470 per month. Only New York ranks higher. Nationally, the median is $200.

That's not a rounding error. That's a second mortgage for a lot of families.

Hawaiʻi has more HOAs, and they cost more

Forty-two percent of Hawaiʻi homeowners pay a monthly HOA or Association of Apartment Owners (AOAO) fee. The national rate is 25%. The gap makes sense given how much of Hawaiʻi's housing stock is condominiums, especially on Oʻahu, where vertical density is the norm and land drives the price of everything.

In Honolulu County, the median HOA fee is $526 per month. Hawaiʻi County is the outlier at $135, but that's the Big Island, where more housing is single-family and rural, and where median incomes are also significantly lower.

Here's the number that should give any prospective buyer pause: a review of Oʻahu real estate listings from early 2026 found the median advertised HOA fee was $882 per month. That's nearly double the Census median. The gap reflects how many new condo buildings are on the market right now, and new buildings tend to have the highest fees.

For context on where prices stand in mid-2026: the statewide median condo price is approximately $531,000 to $545,000, which is down about 1% to 3% year-over-year. The Oʻahu median sits around $507,500 as of July 2026, up modestly from early in the year. Prices may look manageable compared to single-family homes. The carrying costs are another story.

The number on the listing isn’t the real number

Monthly fees cover routine maintenance and contributions to a reserve fund, which covers a roof that needs replacing, an elevator system that breaks down, or water intrusion that causes structural damage.

When the reserve fund isn’t there, owners pay a different way: through special assessments.

A special assessment is a lump-sum charge issued on top of regular fees when a building needs repairs and doesn’t have the money. They can run from a few thousand to tens of thousands of dollars. In some older Waikīkī buildings, owners have faced assessments of $20,000 to $50,000. They arrive with little warning. And they are almost never visible in the fee disclosures a buyer sees before closing.

This isn’t a rare scenario. Reserve fund professionals who work in Hawaiʻi estimate that approximately three out of four associations are sitting on a funding gap nationwide, and Hawaiʻi’s aging condo stock, much of it built in the 1970s and 1980s, is particularly exposed. Many of those buildings are now past the useful life of their major components: plumbing, elevators, concrete, and roofing systems. The DCCA has published guidance specifically flagging this pattern, noting that aging infrastructure and deferred maintenance are among the leading drivers of surprise assessments on Oʻahu.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Then add insurance"}]

Property insurance has become a crisis of its own for Hawaiʻi condo owners, and it’s getting worse.

In the wake of the 2023 Maui wildfires, some condominium policy premiums jumped by more than 1,000%. Statewide, aggregate property insurance premiums rose 13.4% in 2024, the largest single-year increase in at least a decade, and nearly four points above the national average. The Kona Low storms that hit in March and April 2026 added further pressure; insurers are recalibrating risk across the Islands, and those adjustments will continue to be reflected in HOA fee lines over the next several years.

In June 2026, FEMA also updated its flood maps for Oʻahu, reclassifying 3,700 net new parcels, a 25% increase, into Special Flood Hazard zones. Properties in those zones now face mandatory flood insurance requirements to qualify for federally backed mortgages. For condo buildings that fall in newly mapped areas, the cost flows into the association’s insurance expense and, eventually, into monthly fees.

Mortgage rates are not helping either. The 30-year fixed rate in Hawaiʻi averaged about 6.9% as of mid-2026, nearly a full point higher than the lows of early 2025. Every basis-point rate increase makes the combined burden of mortgage payments plus HOA fees harder to sustain.

If you are considering a condo purchase in Hawaiʻi right now, four questions should be non-negotiable before you sign anything.

What is the reserve fund balance, and what percentage of the estimated need does it represent? The industry threshold for a healthy reserve is 70% funded or higher. Hawaiʻi law requires at least 50%, but 50% is different from an adequate amount. It’s the floor, not the standard.

When was the last reserve study conducted, and what did it find? Hawaiʻi law requires studies to be updated regularly and reviewed by an independent preparer with recognized certifications. A building without a current study is operating blind.

Have there been any special assessments in the past five years? Are any anticipated? Boards are required to disclose known assessments, but enforcement has gaps. A 2025 legislative bill that would have strengthened those disclosure requirements died in committee. The burden remains on buyers to ask.

What have insurance premiums done over the past three years — and is the building in any newly designated FEMA flood zone? A building whose premiums have doubled or tripled is already under financial stress. A building in a newly mapped flood area faces costs that are just beginning to arrive.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"If you already own"}]

Hawaiʻi law gives condo owners the right to review financial records, attend board meetings, and access reserve studies. Those rights exist whether or not your building actively promotes them.

Attend your board meetings. Request the financials. Find out where your building actually stands before the next special assessment letter shows up in your mailbox.

The price on the listing is just the beginning.

Reprinted with permission from Corey Idleburg, executive director of 

a Honolulu-based nonprofit that translates research, data, and policy into accessible public information for Hawaiʻi communities.

Salt Lake condos

Ray Tsuchiyama

Columnists

Tens of thousands of people in Hawai‘i live in apartment towers that are now a half-century old, or older. Owners face sometimes ruinously expensive assessments to repair or replace aging building systems. Under Hawai‘i law they're stuck. There's no provision for owners to take the radical step of collectively selling their units and handing the building off to someone else to redevelop. Other places have such laws, here's how they work.

Honolulu high rises i Stock 2276409033

Hawaiʻi doesn't have a condo crisis, it has a missing law

<title>Community Voices: What nobody tells you before you buy a condo in Hawaiʻi</title>

Hawaiʻi condominium prices may look manageable compared to single-family homes. The carrying costs are another story.

Community Voices: What nobody tells you before you buy a condo in Hawaiʻi

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

A new Japanese-style egg salad sandwich is available at 

 stores starting tomorrow, Sept. 1, while supplies last. The sandwich will be $5.99 at 7-Eleven Hawai

ahu ($6.49 at 7-Eleven Hawaii stores on Kaua

This new sandwich is inspired by the popular egg salad sandwiches offered by 7-Eleven Japan. The egg sando is a hot commodity in Japan, known for its creamy filling and soft bread.

i’s new Japanese-style egg salad sandwich features locally baked fluffy shokupan bread and a creamy egg salad filling. This new version does not include lettuce; 7-Eleven Hawai

i will continue to offer its regular egg salad sandwich — which is a deli item with lettuce — in-stores.

“7-Eleven Japan is known for elevating everyday convenience-store foods, and we are excited to bring our own locally made take on its beloved egg salad sandwich to customers in Hawaii,” states Greg Hanna, president and CEO of 7-Eleven Hawai

i. “By pairing the Japanese-inspired recipe with Shokupan bread baked here in Hawai

i, we created something that reflects both our Japanese roots and our connection to the local community.”

i, Inc. operates more than 60 stores across O

7 Eleven Hawaii Japanese style egg salad sandwich without wrapper 083126

<title>7-Eleven Hawaiʻi launches new, Japanese-style egg salad sandwiches</title>

The new sandwich — featuring a creamy egg salad filling between locally baked Shokupan bread — is available at 7-Eleven Hawaiʻi stores starting Sept. 1.

7-Eleven Hawaiʻi launches new, Japanese-style egg salad sandwiches

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

JL Capital is preparing for the next steps toward its newest development in Honolulu's Ala Moana neighborhood.

Demolition preparation activities at the future site of 

, located at 1538 Kapi‘olani Blvd., are expected to begin in October, following the relocation of Central Pacific Bank to the nearby Pan Am Building, the developer said in an announcement this week. The developers also have introduced new pricing on a number of residences.

“Reaching this stage represents meaningful progress for the project and demonstrates our continued commitment to ramping up construction of Muse Honolulu," Mark Berkowitz, executive vice president of JL Capital, the project developer, said in the announcement. “At the same time, we recognize that the market has evolved. We’ve listened closely to buyers and the real estate community and have adjusted pricing on select residences to better reflect today’s market and create new opportunities for homebuyers.”

The planned 39-story Muse Honolulu was designed by architecture firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson and local partner Benjamin Woo Architects. 

Muse Honolulu will include 315 residences — a mix of penthouses, tower residences, urban lofts and two-story townhomes — and amenities across three levels.

, those amenities include a rooftop sky lounge; steam rooms, saunas, treatment rooms, a multi-level fitness center, pool, hot tub and cold plunge, barbecue cabanas, golf simulator, putting green, private dining rooms, dog park, playground and more.

Muse offers one-bedroom residences with up to 747 square feet of interior living space; two-bedroom units with up to 1,384 square feet and three-bedroom units with up to 1,572 square feet, the announcement notes.

The newly priced residences span several home types and price points, according to the announcement: studios start from the $600,000s; one-bedroom residences will start from $789,000; two-bedroom residences from $1,087,000; and three-bedroom units from $1,791,000.

Pricing was adjusted on 48 residences, with more significant reductions on certain residence types and more modest adjustments on others," JL Capital CEO Tim Lee told Aloha State Daily in an emailed response to questions.

For example, he noted, Residence No. 903 — a one-bedroom urban loft with 10-foot, 3-inch ceiling heights and 668 square feet of interior living space — was previously offered at $922,000 and is now priced at $789,000, a reduction of $133,000. Meanwhile, Residence No. 1001, a two-bedroom urban loft with 10-foot, 3-inch ceiling heights, 1,048 square feet of interior living space and an 89-square-foot lanai, is now priced at $1,216,000, a reduction of $183,000.

Lee says that the adjustments were made on a residence-by-residence basis to better reflect current market conditions and the specific attributes of each home.

"Buyers today are looking closely at not only price, but what they’re getting for that price — usable living space, parking, views, amenities, storage and a location that makes everyday life more convenient," he told ASD. "We’ve also heard clearly that buyers value choice. Muse was designed with a range of residence types and floor plans, from urban lofts and tower residences to two-story townhomes. We’ve seen strong sales across a number of residence types and will maintain the original pricing on those homes. At the same time, the market today is different from when we initially established pricing, and we recognized that certain residence types were priced ahead of the market. We listened to feedback from buyers and the brokerage community and adjusted accordingly."

Owner-occupant sales for select residences in the condo 

JL Capital, a real estate and private equity firm founded in 2017, has completed or initiated a number of major projects in Honolulu's Ala Moana neighborhood and along the Kapi‘olani corridor in recent years.

, a $507 million mixed-use twin tower condominium and hotel at 1388 Kapi‘olani Blvd. 

Renaissance Honolulu Hotel & Spa, a Marriott brand

, an adaptive reuse project that will convert a five-story former office building at 

 several other contiguous properties along Kapi‘olani Boulevard for a combined price of $36 million last fall.

Lee told ASD that JL Capital does not have specific plans to announce for the properties at 1322 and 1356 Kapi‘olani Boulevard at this time, but continues to "

evaluate opportunities for those properties as part of our broader investment in the corridor.

"We see tremendous long-term potential along the Ala Moana/Kapiʻolani corridor," he says. "It sits at the intersection of Ala Moana, Waikīkī and some of Honolulu’s most established residential neighborhoods, with convenient access to shopping, dining, employment and transportation. We have completed and are advancing a range of projects in the corridor, including affordable and market-rate housing, hotel and retail developments. Our goal is to be thoughtful about how we invest in the area and look for opportunities that contribute to a more connected, vibrant and livable urban community."

Visit the Muse Honolulu sales gallery, located at 1388 Kapiolani Blvd., Suite 101, to schedule a private presentation. For more information, visit 

Muse Honolulu 2

<title>JL Capital prepping for next steps in Muse Honolulu development</title>

Demolition preparation activity at the site of the planned condominium in Honolulu's Ala Moana neighborhood is expected to begin in October and new pricing has been announced for a number of residences.

JL Capital prepping for next steps in Muse Honolulu development

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Government & Politics

Crime & Courts

Councilman Tommy Waters will not be on the ballot in the general election this year, after the Hawai‘i Supreme Court found him ineligible to run.

Waters’ eligibility to run for reelection for the term from 2027 to 2031 has been a 

 for months, after rival candidate Trevor Ozawa filed a lawsuit against Waters in June.

The Honolulu City Charter limits council members to only two consecutive four-year terms. Waters had argued that, despite joining the council in 2019, his first term was not a full four-year term: the results of the 2018 election were disputed, leading to a special election in 2019 that he won.

Because Waters was ultimately elected after the official start of the term, he argued that the term was not served in full, which allowed him to run again this year.

The state Supreme Court determined otherwise. Writing for the opinion of the court, Associate Justice Lisa Ginoza concluded that Waters was elected to the full 2019-2023 four-year term.

“Determining whether Waters or [then-incumbent] Ozawa was elected to that term was delayed due to the challenges to the November 2018 election,” Ginoza wrote. “But it was the same four-year term to which Waters was ultimately elected.”

Ginoza wrote that the charter’s definition of a council term makes no consideration for the amount of time a council member actually serves. Rather, a four-year term is something with a fixed, predetermined period of time, to which a council member is elected.

Ginoza also addressed a complaint filed earlier this month by 40 voters in Waters’ Council District 4, which argued that declaring Waters ineligible would disenfranchise voters who submitted ballots for Waters during the primary election. According to state voter totals, 8,678 people voted for Waters in the primary, putting him in second place behind Ozawa — who received 12,279 — but above two other candidates.

Despite the claims by the 40 voters, Ginoza argued that no voters have been disenfranchised by the court’s ruling.

“The number of votes received does not render a candidate eligible for office,” Ginoza wrote, adding that choosing to keep Waters on the ballot and “let voters decide,” would also end up ignoring votes cast for third-place candidate Tara Malia Gregory, who received 4,225 votes.

As no candidate received a majority of votes in the primary, the general election will be a contest between the two candidates who received the most votes. With Waters now out of the picture, that means Gregory will be on the ballot.

 against the results of the primary election this week, arguing that voters who had cast ballots for Waters could have instead voted for her had they known he was ineligible to run — a First Circuit Court judge had declared Waters ineligible on July 27, only after early and absentee voting had begun.

Ginoza’s opinion was not unanimous. Acting Chief Justice Sabrina McKenna submitted her own opinion dissenting with Ginoza’s conclusions, arguing that Waters 

 eligible and should be on the ballot in the general election.

McKenna wrote that she believes Waters was elected to fill a vacancy in 2019 and therefore did not serve two consecutive four-year terms, and should therefore be deemed eligible. But even if his eligibility is ambiguous, McKenna wrote, “principles underlying representative democracy” require that Waters be presumed eligible.

“Respectfully, the majority’s decision determining Water ineligible is not only erroneous as a matter of law, it violates these principles of representative democracy,” McKenna wrote.

Nonetheless, Waters’ name will not appear on the ballot in the general election. Those ballots have not yet been mailed.

Ozawa said in a statement Friday that “voters deserved a clear answer and now they have one.”

“From here, the ultimate decision is with the voters of District 4 — from Hawai‘i Kai to Kaimukī and Waikīkī — where it always should be,” read Ozawa’s statement, adding that “Tommy Waters served this community and I respect that.”

Waters issued his own statement Friday saying he was “profoundly disappointed by today’s decision,” but thanked the Supreme Court for providing certainty in the matter.

“While the outcome is difficult, our system of democracy depends on respect for the rule of law and for the judicial process that brought us here,” read Waters’ statement. 

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<title>Waters out of council race after Supreme Court verdict</title>

The Hawai‘i Supreme Court found Waters ineligible to run for reelection this year.

Waters out of council race after Supreme Court verdict

After Hurricane Lala, residents of a Waikīkī high-rise waited 

for power and water to be restored while nearby buildings were already back online, due to its own flooded circuitry.

One storm. One outage. But it points to a much larger question: What happens when Hawaiʻi's aging condominium buildings can no longer keep up with the demands placed on them?

Walk through any 1960s or ’70s-era condominium tower in Waikīkī or Makiki, and you are looking at a building entering a difficult stage of its economic life.

Many of Hawaiʻi's condominium buildings are now 40, 50 or even 60 years old. The issue is not necessarily their structural lives; it is that major systems installed decades ago — plumbing, electrical, elevators and roofs — are increasingly expensive to maintain or replace.

The bills are not small. Some owners are facing special assessments of $50,000, $100,000 or more per unit for repairs and replacement of aging building systems.

And for many owners, their condominium may be the largest asset they own, yet they face a large bill for a unit they may eventually have difficulty selling.

Here is what is missing: Hawaiʻi has a law for terminating a condominium.

 It does not have a practical legal mechanism for turning majority agreement into redevelopment.

Hawaiʻi law provides a process for condominium termination for liquidation through a court-ordered partition sale, which does not address the collective-action problem when a large majority of owners want to sell or rebuild but a minority does not.

Owners are not simply choosing repair over redevelopment.

They often have no practical redevelopment

And zoning can make the problem worse. Tear down an older, grandfathered tower, and current rules may permit less density than the building already contains. A developer may be willing to take on the project, but if the replacement building cannot generate enough value to pay for land, construction, financing and owner buyouts, there is no deal.

The state has never built a door for a redevelopment pathway with development incentives.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Other places have."}]

New South Wales, Australia, created a statutory

 that addresses the collective-action problem. A supermajority can initiate a renewal plan, with a court reviewing the process and protections for dissenting owners, including compensation based on independently determined value.

Florida provides another useful example, although its experience also demonstrates how minority-owner protections can complicate redevelopment and generate litigation.

Japan has gone further in combining condominium-reconstruction mechanisms with urban-planning tools that can allow additional development potential to help finance replacement buildings.

The lesson is not that Hawaiʻi should copy any one system. It is that the problem has already been addressed elsewhere in pieces — and Hawaiʻi needs two of them.

Chapter 514B should be amended to create a condominium-renewal process under which a substantial supermajority of owners could approve a redevelopment plan, subject to independent valuation, notice, financial disclosure, and judicial review.

The principle should be straightforward: dissenting owners deserve fair value and due process, but they should not possess an indefinite veto over a transaction approved by an overwhelming majority and determined to satisfy statutory protections.

A specialized condominium-renewal docket within Hawaiʻi's existing Circuit Court system could develop expertise in these cases without creating an entirely new court.

Second, a way to make the redevelopment economically possible.

Even an approved redevelopment plan is worthless if the replacement building does not pencil.

This is where land economics becomes critical.

Hawaiʻi should establish a statewide statutory framework allowing qualifying older condominiums to seek a defined redevelopment incentive — potentially additional floor area or other development flexibility — when specific criteria are met.

The criteria could include building age, documented physical or financial obsolescence, a professional structural or capital-needs assessment, an approved renewal plan and demonstrated economic feasibility.

This should not become a blank check for developers or a wholesale rewrite of county zoning. The Legislature would establish the rules and eligibility standards; the appropriate authority would administer them against objective criteria; and the courts would address owner rights and the fairness of the renewal process.

The objective would not be to guarantee redevelopment. Some buildings will still be too small, too expensive, or too constrained to make the numbers work. That is a market outcome. But Hawaiʻi should 

This would not apply neatly to every building. Leasehold condominiums present a different problem because the underlying ground lease and landowner's rights must also be addressed. That is a separate legal and economic issue.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Every component already exists somewhere."}]

New South Wales built a mechanism for collective action. Florida offers experience with owner buyouts, dissenters and the litigation that can follow. Japan demonstrates how redevelopment law and additional development potential can sometimes work together to finance replacement buildings. (More on this in future columns.)

Hawaiʻi already knows how to establish special land-use frameworks (e.g. HCDA) when a public policy objective demands them.

What Hawaiʻi lacks is a system that connects these pieces.

We do not need the government to rebuild every aging condominium. We do not need to guarantee developers a profit. And we should not take away the legitimate property rights of minority owners.

But we should give a willing majority of owners a legitimate path to discover whether redevelopment makes more sense than another special assessment.

Hawaiʻi's aging condominium problem is not simply about old buildings. It is about what happens when private property, collective ownership, land economics, and outdated law collide.

Hawaiʻi does not have a shortage of aging condos. It has a shortage of options for renewing them.

That is a shortage the Legislature can fix.

For a parent hoping to pass a Makiki condo to the next generation, the question is no longer simply what the unit is worth. It is whether the building around it has a future.

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

Ray Tsuchiyama’s series explores one central question: How does Hawai‘i use the wealth and land it already has to create its next economic future? He can be reached at 

Daily Smile: Thursday, March 5, 2026

ASD Staff

Reporter

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Daily Smile: Thursday, March 5, 2026

Authors

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