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New Transit-Oriented Rental Tower Heading for Ala Moana?

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A new rental high-rise is in the works near Ala Moana Center. It’s the first in the area to seek zoning that puts it in the category of Transit Oriented Development. 

Brookfield Properties has been making early presentations and gathering feedback from the Ala Moana Neighborhood board for plans it’s developing for a 550-unit tower. Brookfield is the majority owner of Ala Moana Center and is developing the concept for the corner lot at Piikoi and Kona streets, where a small strip mall featuring Nijiya Market and Eggs & Things now stands.

Among other steps, Brookfield is seeking approval to increase the height limit at the mall from the current 350 feet to 400 feet on the Kapiolani side of the shopping center. The city’s transit-oriented development plans for the area are themselves only in a draft form and the developer would like to see that draft amended before the rules are set in stone.

According to Kris Hui,  Brookfield vice president of mixed-use development, the planned high-rise would offer a mix of studios, one-, two-, and three-bedroom units in a 400-foot tower, similar to the dedicated rental tower it recently broke ground for in Waikiki. Twenty percent of the units will be offered as affordable housing, 80 percent at market rents.

Brookfield is currently doing site studies and working with existing commercial tenants to help them move elsewhere in the mall. Hiring an architect comes next and, if all goes as expected, construction could begin in two years.

A. Kam Napier is the editor-in-chief of Pacific Business News.
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