Hawaii Housing Agency Starts 2,400-Unit Kalihi Build at Mayor Wright

State officials and community leaders gathered Thursday to launch construction on the first phase of the Mayor Wright Homes redevelopment, a project the Hawai'i Public Housing Authority calls the largest public housing undertaking in state history. The site covers 15 acres in the Kalihi-Palama neighborhood near downtown Honolulu.

The housing authority and developer Highridge Costa are replacing the nearly 75-year-old complex bounded by King Street, Liliha Street and Vineyard Boulevard. Plans call for more than 2,400 rental homes in 10 towers, ranging from studios to five-bedroom units, along with public housing units, condominiums for sale and commercial space. Organizers said the new development will hold seven times as many homes as the current one and will serve a mix of incomes rather than only very low-income residents.

More than half of the units will be reserved for tenants earning below 80 percent of area median income. Later phases will extend to households earning up to 100 percent of that figure, roughly $150,000 a year for a family of four. Current Mayor Wright residents displaced by construction are being relocated and will have priority to return.

The housing authority estimates Phase 1A will cost $333 million. A 2017 state estimate put the full project at $1.3 billion. The development also includes four acres of parks and recreational space, and it is designed to be within walking distance of the planned Iwilei rail station.

Hakim Ouansafi, executive director of the housing authority, said the ceremony went beyond a first shovel. "It's not simply about breaking ground. It is about breaking barriers," he said. He added that the state cannot address future housing problems by relying on past approaches. "Public housing should never mean second class housing," Ouansafi said.

Gov. Josh Green called the project central to the state's housing strategy, saying, "Housing provides health." Moe Mohanna, president of Highridge Costa Development Company, said, "What we are building here is a legacy." Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi tied the buildout to the arrival of the Skyline rail line and called the pairing historic for affordable housing. The first building is scheduled to open in 2029, and the full redevelopment is expected to take 15 years.

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