A new 27-unit rental workforce housing development is underway near The Queen's Medical Center's Punchbowl campus.
Located at 1518 Miller St., the project, which will be designated for households earning up to 80% of the area median income, broke ground last month. It's the first ground-up project from Fergus Brothers LLC.
"We're really excited," Jake Fergus, an owner of Fergus Brothers, told Aloha State Daily. "This is our family's real estate company and, for a long time, we've been focused on commercial real estate investments. Right now, we have properties on O‘ahu and Maui, a lot of industrial assets, but just in the last few years, we've wanted to become involved with helping with our affordable housing problem and crisis we have in Hawai‘i. This is our first big project, ground-up, that we're building. ... We're just excited to get involved and we hope to do a lot more of these before it's all said and done."
The for-rent apartments are being developed under the City and County of Honolulu's Bill 7 program.
Bill 7 was adopted by the Honolulu City Council in 2019; these projects are also referred to as ROH Chapter 32 projects. According to the city's Department of Planning and Permitting, ROH Chapter 32 relaxes development standards and offers financial incentives for affordable rental projects in certain zoning districts and on lots no larger than 20,000 square feet as long as 80% or more of the units are rented to those earning no more than 100% of Honolulu's AMI for at least 15 years.
Affordable housing income limits are based on household sizes — you can find the city's current income limits here.
"If you look at the the current 80% AMI schedule for what people earn, those are solidly workforce tenants — hardworking people working in the community. A lot of them have multiple jobs," Fergus says. While there's no formal agreement with Queen's or any other employers in the area, he says, too, that with the location of the property and proximity to the health care center, "we would love it if hospital workers could rent at our building and be able to just walk across the street to work."
The project was designed by architect Ed Sheehan of Interlock LLC and is being constructed by Honolulu Builders. It'll feature 25 one-bedroom and two studio units. Fergus says construction is expected to be finished next year.
Fergus said, too, that the project will be constructed on an elevated podium, allowing the ground floor to be used for parking, minimizing impacts to street parking in the surrounding neighborhood.
When the property was acquired in 2024, Fergus says there was a long-empty old house in an unlivable condition on the site. It didn't make sense to keep the house, he noted, so the company hired Reuse Hawai‘i for deconstruction and donated any salvageable items before Honolulu Builder came in.
According to property records, the Miller Street property was acquired for a little more than $1.4 million in 2024.
The Miller Street project follows a recently completed restoration of an 11-unit workforce apartment building at 1650 Stillman Lane in Liliha, which offers six two-bedroom units and five one-bedroom units near Kuakini Medical Center, a recent announcement from the developer noted.
Stephanie Salmons can be reached at stephanie@alohastatedaily.com.
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