There's been a lot of activity in Ward Village in recent years, and its evolution continues to steadily progress.
Ground broke late last month on Melia Ward Village and ‘Ilima Ward Village, a pair of residential towers planned for the former Ward Centre site.
Melia and ‘Ilima will bring a combined 369 homes and about 20,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial and retail space to Ward Village, Howard Hughes' 60-acre master-planned community located between Downtown Honolulu and Waikīkī. Meanwhile, landscaped pedestrian connections will link the IBM Building with Ka Lei Park, a recent announcement from Ward Village noted.
"It's been phenomenal," says Doug Johnstone, president, Hawai‘i Region and head of national development for Howard Hughes Communities, the real estate platform of Howard Hughes Holdings Inc., says of reaching the milestone. "We've obviously been working on that for a number of years behind the scenes, but the thing that's got us most excited is reaching a bit of a critical mass, particularly in the core of our neighborhood, where we brought Victoria Ward Park online, a number of new retailers and restaurants are starting to open up, and you're starting to see a real community and concentration of people and activity.
"Everybody has memories from Ward Centre over the years — it's had a great run — but I feel strongly that Melia, ‘Ilima and Ka Lei Park, also being flanked by the IBM building, it's going to represent a timeliness addition and an iconic improvement to what we're doing in Ward Village ... ."
Ward Centre, which opened in 1982 and served the community for more than four decades, closed on June 30 to make way for the new towers. Its demolition is currently underway and is expected to be finished early next year, according to Johnstone.
The 33-story ‘Ilima will have 148 homes while Melia, its 35-story companion, will offer 221 residences. Howard Hughes Communities is partnering with Discovery Land Co. on the residential experience at the two buildings, the announcement notes.
According to the announcement, both Melia and ‘Ilima were designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, with AHL serving as local executive architect and VITA Planning & Landscape Architecture leading the landscape design.
"The architecture draws inspiration from early 20th-century Honolulu landmarks, including the Honolulu Museum of Art, the Alexander & Baldwin building and the Dillingham Transportation Center," the announcement notes. "Shaded walkways, lanais, landscaped gardens and native plantings connect the design to Hawaiʻi’s climate and traditions of indoor-outdoor living."
As part of the Sept. 28 groundbreaking, $15,000 was donated each to the Hawai‘i Architectural Foundation and Purple Mai‘a Foundation.
The story so far
Ward Village sold out its first eight mixed-use residential towers: Waiea, Anaha, Ae‘o, Ke Kilohana, ‘A‘ali‘i, Kō‘ula, Victoria Place and Ulana Ward Village.
In addition to Melia and ‘Ilima, other new residential buildings in development or under construction include Kalae, which broke ground in January 2024, and The Launiu Ward Village, which broke ground in October 2025.
The Park Ward Village opened in June.
Other milestones in the last 18 months or so:
- Ulana Ward Village opened in November 2025.
- The makai phase of Victoria Ward Park opened in February 2025, and the mauka side of the park opened a year later in February 2026.
- A pedestrian bridge across Ala Moana Boulevard, connecting Kaka‘ako and Victoria Ward Park Makai to Ala Moana Beach Park and Kewalo Basin, opened in May 2025.
- Ka La‘i o Kukuluāe‘o Park opened in September of last year.
Ward Village marked a record year in 2025, with momentum driven by the launch of Melia Ward Village and ‘Ilima Ward Village earlier that year.
In Hawai‘i last year, Howard Hughes contracted to sell 287 condos, which accounted for roughly $1.6 billion in future revenue, according to a fourth-quarter earnings report from Howard Hughes Holdings published earlier this year. Of those pre-sales, 220 units were contracted at Melia and ‘Ilima.
Meanwhile, sales for Mahana Ward Village launched this summer.
"That's been exciting to get off the ground and round out what we're calling the Park District," Johnstone says of Mahana. "That's where we're seeing a lot of the activation happening, with families playing at the playground, and shops and restaurants starting to come online. That'll be a bit of the commercial hub of the neighborhood."
When asked about a timeline for that project, Johnstone says that Ward Village is progressing Mahana's pre-sales currently and ultimately advancing toward the construction stage.
"[We'll] rely on pre-sale velocity and hopefully in the next year or so be able to get some traction on that," he says.
Mahana is the last Ward Village tower that's been announced.
"We're always underway with future planning efforts and we have a number of remaining holdings that are commercial operating properties in the near-term," Johnstone explained. "We are always thinking about what's down the road, both within Ward Village but we've also had some interesting acquisition opportunities that we've been looking at a little more deeply and trying to see where else we can fit in in the O‘ahu landscape."
The initial Ward Village Master Plan was approved by the Hawai‘i Community Development Authority in 2009, "setting the groundwork for the development of this community," the Ward Village website notes.
Johnstone says that when projects like Ward Village are initially considered, they're multi-decade efforts.
The reality, he says, is that it likely takes longer than most people think to "bring things forward." You need market conditions, institutional capital, a risk appetite and long-term vision.
Going back to the financial crisis, when a lot of this was initially contemplated, Johnstone says there was a "bit of a perception that it was going to be a lot all at once."
"It was a level of urbanization that Honolulu hadn't seen in recent years, so there was understandably some trepidation around that. I think the reality, as it plays out, is things move more incrementally," he told ASD. "They move with the market, they move with demand."
Johnstone says, too, that Ward Village has been intentional about preserving open space, setbacks, the streetscape and greenery, along with the "complementary aspects of what the retail and community building can be, along with the towers themselves and these pretty significant projects, so it becomes increasingly important to have a human scale to it."
"A lot of that effort has translated into being more palpable over time and less daunting, something that's becoming a lot more accepted and appreciated, particularly as everybody starts to have a friend or two that lives down here or a place they like to go visit," he says. "That's one of the more rewarding things over time. As we turn this next corner and bring more product online, and with it more plazas and exciting gathering spaces, that ultimately becomes our lasting imprint."
Johnstone, who born and raised in Honolulu, attended Punahou School and Stanford University. He joined the Ward Village team in 2012 and was named president of the Hawai‘i Region in early 2020. He also was recently named head of national development for Howard Hughes Communities.
You can check out the history of Ward Village here.
Curious about the other changes that have taken place in Kaka‘ako over the decades? ASD columnist DeSoto Brown highlights the neighborhood's history here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
Stephanie Salmons can be reached at stephanie@alohastatedaily.com.
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