December 15, 2006
 Avalon
plans retail-office complex in downtown Kapolei
A local developer is
planning
to build a
multiple-tower, 300,000square-foot
retail and office complex
on vacant land in downtown Kapolei.
Avalon Development Co. last
week bought the
3.2-acre parcel on
Manawai Street,
behind the Kapolei
Library, from Campbell Estate for $6.78 million,
said Christine Camp Friedman, president and CEO of
Avalon Development.
The project still is in the
design
phase, but Camp Friedman
said the
groundbreaking would occur in about six to eight
months.
"It's time for the city to
have an
office tower," she said.
The Avalon project is one of six
office projects planned for similar-size
lots in downtown Kapolei, according to Campbell Estate.
Conceptual drawings for
Kapolei Pacific Center show two towers set at a
diagonal on the square lot, with outdoor courtyards,
pedestrian paths and a parking structure. One tower is
shown to be 11 stories high. The preliminary plan calls
for 285,000 square feet of office space and 50,000
square feet of retail space, for a total of 335,000
square feet of leasable space.
Camp Friedman spoke about
the project Wednesday while testifying against a bill
before the Honolulu City Council that would put on hold
for a year all development of new buildings within a
quarter mile of a proposed light-rail transit route.
Other developers and landowners, including Campbell
Estate and General Growth Properties, also spoke against
the bill, sponsored by Councilmember Gary Okino, which
would halt all building permits, zone changes or other
development of land. The bill did not pass second
reading and was sent back to the zoning committee.
The bill's intention was to
ensure the "premature or inappropriate development in
close proximity to the mass-transit alignment does not
foreclose the potential for" a transit-oriented
development along the route.
Dean Uchida of the Land Use
Research Foundation of Hawaii, said the idea is to have
higher-density development along rail transit
lines, to encourage people to live and work
within walking distance of the train.
But Uchida said Oahu's
infrastructure can't handle higher density in most
areas. For example, the sewer system lacks the capacity
for a denser urban core, he said.
"We don't think a
moratorium is really
going to address the problem
of creating density unless you take care of these
other things," he said.
Uchida noted that most of
Kapolei would be affected by the
proposed
legislation, since much of downtown Kapolei,
including the Avalon project, is within a quarter mile
of a proposed rail route.
"I think most of Kapolei
would
be under the moratorium,"
he said. "You cannot build."
Pacific Business New (Honolulu) - December 15, 2006
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