In The News
Saving Kukui Gardens Needs State OK
January 24, 2007
KGMB9
There is preliminary approval on a plan to save hundreds of affordable rental units at the Kukui Gardens apartment complex in Liliha. But the proposal hinges on the state spending tens of millions of taxpayer dollars.
Almost everyone except the state has signed off on the deal, and without state money the deal will be dead.
There are 857 rental units at Kukui Gardens. All of them are in the affordable range.
Last spring a California-based development company named Carmel Partners offered to buy the property for $131 million.
Residents worried that if the sale went through, the apartments would be torn down.
“We’ve all been stressed. I mean we want to save our homes,” said Debbie Kitayama, a 36-year resident at Kukui Gardens.
A non-profit group called Faith Action for Community Equity, or FACE, has been working with the tenants. FACE has reached an agreement with Carmel Partners that may keep anyone from being evicted. The deal calls for Carmel to buy the property, then sell half to the tenants. Carmel will develop its half into a mixed-use residential, retail and office complex.
The tenants will then have to raise tens of millions of dollars to build additional low-rent apartments for anyone displaced from Carmel’s half of the property.
“There are two really exciting things about this agreement. The first thing is we absolutely preserve 100 percent of the low-income units in question,” said Drew Astolfi, a FACE staffer who has worked on the proposal. “The other thing that is critical is that we get seven years to built replacement housing.”
Face is asking the state for $55 million to help buy the tenants half of the complex. The expenditure has support in the state House of Representatives, but faces hurdles in the State Senate.
“I’m concerned that if government is going to spend taxpayer money to that extent, what is the accountability?” said Senate president Colleen Hanabusa.
If the plan gets House and Senate approval, it will still need Governor Lingle’s blessing before becoming reality. She has said she is committed to preserving affordable units at Kukui Gardens, but wants to make sure this latest plan is the best way to accomplish that goal.
Affordable housing is one of the big topics at the state capitol this year and lawmakers may find the plan attractive because it maintains current housing stock instead of building from scratch.
