Kamehameha Schools may lease Kakaako lands intended for condo towers, exec says

Kamehameha Schools will eventually lease the vacant buildings on two three-acre lots in Kakaako, where developers scrapped plans to build at least one luxury condominium tower, the trust’s top executive in its commercial real estate division confirmed to PBN Wednesday. The state’s largest private landowner is in the midst of concluding matters with The MacNaughton…


Kamehameha Schools will eventually lease the vacant buildings on two three-acre lots in Kakaako, where developers scrapped plans to build at least one luxury condominium tower, the trust’s top executive in its commercial real estate division confirmed to PBN Wednesday.

The state’s largest private landowner is in the midst of concluding matters with The MacNaughton Group and Kobayashi Group, the two developers that planned to build a luxury high-rise tower called Vida 888 at Ala Moana that was shelved because of slow sales. The developers had options to purchase the two parcels.

“We will be looking at leasing opportunities and considering development proposals for those blocks, just as we are with our other remaining blocks in Kakaako,” Walter Thoemmes, managing director of commercial real estate for Kamehameha Schools, told PBN. “At this point, though, our focus is on working with [The MacNaughton Group and Kobayashi Group] on a smooth and orderly transition.”

Kamehameha Schools’ “Our Kakaako” master plan includes nine blocks — four of which are under contract to such developers as Castle & Cooke Hawaii and Stanford Carr Development. Alexander & Baldwin Inc. purchased another parcel, the former CompUSA site, where it is building The Collection condo tower.

Kamehameha Schools, a $11.1 billion trust, is currently in its seventh year of this 15-year plan, which at the start, included seven residential towers that have 2,750 units and 300,000 square feet of commercial space.