Nearly 250 affordable rentals are coming to Makiki.
Tradewind Capital and Stanford Carr Development broke ground Thursday on ‘Olohana, a 247-unit affordable rental community at 1105 Pi‘ikoi Street.
According to an announcement Thursday, the rental homes will be available to households earning between 30% and 60% of the area median income. Income limits vary depending on household size, but you can find the City and County of Honolulu's current limits here.
Located at the corner of Pi‘ikoi and Young streets, the site is within walking distance to amenities like schools, grocery stores and other retailers, restaurants and employers.
“Tradewind Capital’s mission is to invest to build a better Hawaiʻi. Today marks a meaningful step forward in meeting that commitment,” Chris Fong, vice president of development at Tradewind Capital said in the announcement. “‘Olohana meets a dire need on Oʻahu. It is critical affordable housing for local residents right where it should be — a most centralized location within urban Honolulu. We can think of no better use of our property, no greater potential for it to serve the larger community, and no company more qualified to stand with us as partner and co-steward over the next several decades to ensure ‘Olohana flourishes than Stanford Carr Development.”
Fong told Aloha State Daily Thursday that Tradewind Capital acquired the property, previously the site of Plumeria Hostel, in 2017 but it was "encumbered with a ground lease until 2023." However, once that ground lease ended, Fong says, "it was an opportunity for us to reimagine what the site could be."
Statewide, Hawai‘i will need an estimated 64,490 additional housing units through 2027 to meet demand, according to the Hawai‘i Housing Finance and Development Corp.'s 2024 Hawai‘i Housing Planning study, which was published last year. That number includes more than 42,000 units needed for people making 80% of the AMI or below, according to the data in the report.
"We think these 247 units can play a part in solving that problem," Fong says. "We like this site because it's in the urban core, right outside of the Ala Moana TOD [transit-oriented development neighborhood], in a neighborhood that's zoned for business, mixed-use residential, so really, [it is] the perfect type of site for an affordable housing tower."
Fong says Thursday was "a big milestone for the project."
"There was a lot of years of planning, designing, securing the financing, entitling, so we're excited that the project was able to stay on track and we could celebrate with our ground blessing."
Likewise, Stanford Carr told ASD before the blessing ceremony that Thursday's groundbreaking was "a great milestone."
Many people don't realize the amount of time and effort that goes into a project before the groundbreaking, he says.
"All the heavy lifting is actually done before we break ground," Carr told ASD. "When it's time to build, it's execution. We pride ourselves that every project we build has come in ahead of schedule and under budget, and that's attributable to the whole project team — the architects, the engineers, the consultants, our team collaborating to make sure that we flush out any conflicts along the way so that when it's time to execute and build, it's smooth sailing. You don't catch everything, but we're very nimble in making decisions to move things forward."
Carr says financing for the $150 million project, which will include a mix of studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom units, closed Tuesday; fencing goes up Monday "and we start building." Construction is expected to take about 18 to 20 months.
According to the announcement, the name ‘Olohana is a Hawaiian transliteration of "all hands," and was the Hawaiian name for John Young, an advisor to King Kamehameha I and namesake of nearby Young Street.
Tradewind Capital is the investment arm of Tradewind Group, a local company whose legacy spans nearly a century in the Islands across insurance, real estate, technology services and private investment.
Stanford Carr Development, LLC is a Honolulu-based real estate development firm that has developed more than 5,500 homes and apartments across O‘ahu, Maui and Hawai‘i Island since it was founded in 1990.
Stephanie Salmons can be reached at stephanie@alohastatedaily.com.
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