Oahu luxury housing sales set a record in 2014

This 4-bedroom, 3-bath home in Waialae Iki is currently on the market for about $1.8 million. A total of 842 single-family homes and condominiums on Oahu sold for $1 million or more in 2014, eclipsing a record set in 2005.

This 4-bedroom, 3-bath home in Waialae Iki is currently on the market for about $1.8 million. A total of 842 single-family homes and condominiums on Oahu sold for $1 million or more in 2014, eclipsing a record set in 2005.

Oahu’s luxury housing market set a record in 2014, with a total of 842 single-family homes and condominiums sold for $1 million or more, an increase of nearly 16 percent from 2013.

The previous peak for homes priced $1 million and above was in 2005 when 794 homes and condos were sold in this price range. Last year’s sales also surpassed the record set in 2005 by 6 percent.

“This price point appeals to a broad market including locals, buyers from the U.S. mainland and international second-home buyers,” she said.

The areas with the highest number of sales for homes over $1 million were Kahala and Diamond Head in East Oahu, while condos at this price range sold most significantly in Kakaako and Waikiki.

In the $4 million and above price range, the Lanikai and Beachside neighrborhoods in Kailua had the highest number of sales with 11 total closed sales.

Kahala and Diamond Head followed with eight closed sales each.

The largest transaction in 2014 was the record-breaking sale of a property consisting of two adjacent oceanfront lots on Kahala Avenue for about $19.4 million, which was brokered by Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties’ Team of the Avenue in November. The two parcels were sold before they were listed.

A month-to-month comparison shows a total of 73 luxury properties changed hands last month, compared to 69 in December 2013.

The median sale price for luxury homes in December was $1.45 million, an increase of nearly 8 percent from $1.3 million during the same month in 2013.

Duane Shimogawa Reporter – Pacific Business News

Luxury_Oahu_Estates_$2M -_$3M

Luxury_Oahu_Estates_$3M -_$4M

Luxury_Oahu_Estates_$4M -_$5M

Luxury_Oahu_Estates_$5M -_$6M

Luxury_Oahu_Estates_$6M -_$8M

Luxury_Oahu_Estates_$8M – 10M

Luxury_Oahu_Honolulu_Condos

Howard Hughes Corp. breaks ground on Waiea condo tower in Honolulu

From left, David Striph, senior vice president of Hawaii, the Howard Hughes Corp.; David Weinreb, president and CEO, the Howard Hughes Corp.; Gov. Neil Abercrombie; Mayor Kirk Caldwell; and Nick Vanderboom, senior vice president of development, the Howard Hughes Corp., at the groundbreaking for the Waiea condominium at the Ward Village master-planned community in Honolulu.

From left, David Striph, senior vice president of Hawaii, the Howard Hughes Corp.; David Weinreb, president and CEO, the Howard Hughes Corp.; Gov. Neil Abercrombie; Mayor Kirk Caldwell; and Nick Vanderboom, senior vice president of development, the Howard Hughes Corp., at the groundbreaking for the Waiea condominium at the Ward Village master-planned community in Honolulu.

Howard Hughes Corp. President and CEO David Weinreb was joined by Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie and Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell Saturday for the groundbreaking on the Waiea condominium tower at Ward Village in Kakaako Saturday morning, with the governor saying that the massive residential, commercial and retail community will be like nothing Hawaii has seen before.

“Respect the past, but live in the present in order to create the future,” Abercrombie said to an audience of dozens that included future residents of the tower. He said the Ward Village represents a collaboration among political, economic and social circles that has never before existed in Hawaii.

If things go according to plan, that future includes two luxury towers— Waiea and Anaha — that will be built by the Howard Hughes Corp. and are geared toward higher-level income residents, as well as other, more affordable condominium towers that will eventually be built. Whole Foods Market (NYSE: WFM) recently announced that it will open a 50,000-square-foot store in Ward Village.

The project will have a total economic impact of $975 million and represents $2 million in annual property taxes for the City and County of Honolulu, said David Striph, senor vice president of Hawaii for the Howard Hughes Corp. (NYSE: HHC).

Caldwell told PBN that the project has been almost 40 years in the making, since the Hawaii Community Development Authority was founded.

He said about $300 million has been put into infrastructure improvements and that Kakaako is ready for such a large project.

Weinreb told PBN that the biggest challenge was assimilating the needs of the community into the project.

Abercrombie told PBN that seniors will enjoy living in a place where they can walk wherever they need to go.

The project represents the beginning of a new era for Honolulu, Caldwell said.

“We are on the cusp of becoming a capital for the Asia-Pacific area,” he said. “A true capital city we can all brag about.”

Bill Cresenzo Reporter – Pacific Business News

ANAHA - Click here for residence details and floor plans

ANAHA – Click here for residence details and floor plans

WAIEA - Click here for residence details and floor plans

WAIEA – Click here for residence details and floor plans

ANAHA TOWER
WAIEA TOWER

Groundbreaking for Howard Hughes Corp.’s Waiea condominium tower in Honolulu slated for Saturday

The Howard Hughes Corp. has reached contractual agreements for about half of the 482 units in its two ultra-luxury high-rises in Honolulu's Kakaako neighborhood— Anaha and Waiea, seen here in this rendering.

The Howard Hughes Corp. has reached contractual agreements for about half of the 482 units in its two ultra-luxury high-rises in Honolulu’s Kakaako neighborhood— Anaha and Waiea, seen here in this rendering.

Groundbreaking for Howard Hughes Corp.’s Waiea condominium tower in Honolulu slated for Saturday

The Howard Hughes Corp. will break ground Saturday on Waiea at Ward Village in Kakaako, the first of two planned luxury condominium towers, where a penthouse is listed for a record $20 million.

The groundbreaking is slated for 10 a.m. at the site. Honolulu Mayor Kirk Carldwell is expected to join Gov. Neil Abercrombie and project officials for the ceremony.

Construction on the condominium tower project at 1118 Ala Moana Blvd. will begin this month.

The Howard Hughes Corp. (NYSE: HHC) says Ward Village will be a mixed-use master-planned development with 4,000 residential units and more than 1 million square feet of retail and commercial space.

Seventy percent of the 171 units in the Waiea tower and 55 percent of the 311 units in the planned Anaha tower diagonally across the street have sold.

Prices at Waiea range from $1 million for a one-bedroom unit to $20 million for a penthouse.

Bill Cresenzo Reporter – Pacific Business News

High-Rises’ Design Inspired by the Ocean

Two new high-rises in Ward Village look to the sea for inspiration.
BY A. KAM NAPIER

The Waiea condominium tower will be built on the site of a parking lot (1 on the picture), while Anaha will take the former Pier I site (labelled as 2). The yellow highlight indicates the Howard Hughes properties in Kakaako. Photos: Images Courtesy The Howard Hughes Corporation

The Waiea condominium tower will be built on the site of a parking lot (1 on the picture), while Anaha will take the former Pier I site (labelled as 2). The yellow highlight indicates the Howard Hughes properties in Kakaako.
Photos: Images Courtesy The Howard Hughes Corporation

It’s not your imagination, Honolulu is packed with high-rises. In fact, it ranks sixth in the United States —right behind San Francisco—and 30th in the world among cities with the most skyscrapers, according to Emporis, a building-industry information clearinghouse.

Since statehood, high-rise condominiums have evolved from concrete towers with prominent lanai into shiny, smooth, glass towers such as Hokua or the Moana Vista. Some look better than others, but one thing none of them do particularly well is tell a story through architecture. That’s about to change with the first two luxury condos that Howard Hughes Corp. will be building in its Ward Village redevelopment. They won’t just offer ocean views, they’ll draw their inspiration from the ocean.

Waiea, at 1118 Ala Moana (currently the parking lot across from Ward Theatres), will tap into the area’s fishing history, while kitty-corner from it, at 1108 Auahi St. (formerly Pier 1), Anaha will reflect the ocean in a figurative as well as literal way, with windows and lanai set in undulating rhythms to resemble a procession of waves at sea catching the light. Anaha is designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz out of San Francisco with local partner Ben Woo Architects.

Strachan Forgan, an associate principal at SCB, says Anaha’s effect will be achieved by “interlocking and alternating softly curved floorplates, wrapped in a smooth glass skin. This composition is reminiscent of the play between the crests and troughs of an open-ocean wave (and) the reflection of light will constantly alter as the viewpoint and environmental conditions change.”

“The abstraction of waves is common in the Islands’ artistic traditions,” SCB says, and the firm aims for Anaha to contribute to that architecturally. Anaha also needed to fit in with the Ward Village master plan, so, while the abstracted waves of the tower speak to the area’s historic ties to the ocean, its ground floors fill the site, per the plan, with apartment flats and shops, offering, “a unique streetscape and interaction with the retail along Kamakee Street.” Says Forgan, “The opening created between these geometries creates a vibrant focal point approaching the lobby.”

For Waiea’s Canadian architect, James K.M. Cheng, the realization that the original shoreline passes right through Waiea’s site was pivotal to the building’s design. “That got us thinking about how to have a geological relationship with the site as well as a connection to Hawaiian folklore,” he says.

The geological relationship will come through in the way the three main masses of the building – high-rise tower, low-rise townhouses and parking structure – will seem to rise up out of reflecting pools and lava rock, as if they were islands themselves. For Cheng, however, the ocean represents a potential threat to the building as well as an inspiration.

“We’re aware of the possibility of sea-level rise, that in 50 years it could be higher than today, so all the life-sustaining equipment in the building is placed above grade,” he says. Along the makai side of the building, concrete walls that provide privacy for townhouse residents are also meant to protect the building from possible storm surges.

The top-to-bottom glass skin of a modern high-rise is called a curtain wall because it hangs like a curtain from the steel and concrete structure of the building. On Waiea, the glass will look like a curtain frozen in mid-billow, though the designers would prefer if you thought of it as a fishing net.

Honolulu architect Rob Iopa, president of WCIT Architecture, collaborated with Cheng on the design of Waiea, for which he did extensive research into the area’s history and legends.

In brief, there was a deity for fishing and ocean activities named Kuulakai, who possessed magical fishing tools and who had a son named Aiai. Kuulakai passed his knowledge on to Aiai, and, when the time came for Kuulakai to leave earthly life, he left his fishing tools to Aiai and instructed him to go from island to island establishing fishponds. Aiai did exactly that, finally settling in Kakaako, where he had a son of his own, Puniaiki, who helped Aiai develop fishponds.

The fishery just off the original shoreline in the area was known as Kukuluaeo, which is the name of the Hawaiian stilt, a long-legged bird that lives at the shoreline.

The legend plays out in the design of Waiea: the taller residential tower represents Kuula-kai, the lower represents Aiai and the gentle folds of the glass curtain wall is their net. Says Iopa, “Like Kuulakai and Aiai once did, the building stands in the tidal pools of the water’s edge, net draped, patiently waiting and ever searching.”

Before Western contact, Kakaako was filled with inland fishponds, salt pans, marshes and kalo loi, in addition to the thriving fisheries.

Landfill between the 1840s and 1880s eventually turned everything from the original shoreline all the way to the inner reef into solid land. The widest fill is everything between Ala Moana boulevard and Kakaako Waterfront Park. While the shoreline changed, things changed dramatically for Native Hawaiians, who once crowded into a shantytown called Squattersville on this new landfill until the area was cleared for a city incinerator.

Victoria and Curtis Perry Ward and their daughters then owned everything from Thomas Square to the shore, completing an elegant home called the Old Plantation in 1881 (torn down in 1958 to make way for the Blaisdell Center). In 1919, Kewalo Harbor was dredged, and became home to lumber schooners, then fleets of Japanese fishing sampans. Then light industry and retail came to the area.

Now Howard Hughes Corp., with the help of cultural advisors such as Iopa, is infusing its Ward Village redevelopment with nonstop Hawaiian terms, history and cultural concepts. Waiea means “water of life.” Anaha means “reflection of light.” Marketing material for Ward Village talks a lot about modern-day ahupuaa, as if it were possible to go directly from hale pili to high-rises.

And yet, it really is crafting a village. As dense as Kakaako is and seemingly packed with people, it’s a bit shocking when Race Randle, director of development for Howard Hughes, reminds me that, in the 60 acres it is redeveloping, there are currently no actual residents.

“It’s all commercial right now,” he says. When the redevelopment is complete, with its 20 new towers over the next 10 or 20 years, there will be 4,000 families in the area. “It would take 800 acres of green field in Ewa to house that many people.”

These first two towers, on which construction will start this year, are definitely statement buildings. Studio apartments at Anaha start in the $470,000s and one-bedroom units at Waiea start at $1.5 million. Waiea also features a penthouse with four bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms and 4,000 square feet of space.* Part of what they’re asserting is an environmental sensitivity throughout the Ward Village concept. So far, so good. In late November, the Ward Village project – the entire 60-acre master plan – was awarded a LEED Neighborhood Design Platinum certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, for sustainability as a walkable, mixed-use neighborhood. It’s the nation’s largest such project and the only platinum-certified project in Hawaii, the design team says. LEED certifications for individual projects such as Waiea and Anaha will be pursued as they’re built.

The plan also calls for each tower to have a different team of mainland and local architects, to bring variety to the neighborhood. It would not be surprising, though, if many of the projects have Iopa’s indirect fingerprints, as he has consulted on the master plan itself.

As for his work on Waiea, he says, “We are excited by the opportunity to participate and contribute to tall-building architecture that says, ‘Design does matter.’ ” 

http://www.hawaiibusiness.com/Hawaii-Business/February-2014/High-Rises-Design-Inspired-by-the-Ocean/

Luxury homes on Oahu priced between $1M and $3M see strong Q3 sales

Luxury homes on Oahu priced between $1M and $3M see strong Q3 sales
Oahu’s luxury home market experienced strong sales of single-family homes priced between $1 million and $3 million.

Sales of homes priced $1 million to $2 million increased nearly 50 percent from July through September, compared to the third quarter of 2012. Year-to-date, 330 homes were sold in this price range through the end of September, which was nearly double the number sold in all of 2012, the report said.

Additionally, the number of homes priced between $2 million and $3 million sold during the quarter rose 33 percent compared to the same time period last year. Year-to-date sales in this price range were about 70 percent of 2012 sales.

Even some higher price ranges performed well, according to the report, which pointed out that the $5 million-and-above range saw sales rise 10 percent above 2012 levels.

Meantime, sales of condominiums in the $800,000 to $1 million range were 78 percent higher in the third quarter than during the same time period last year, and have already exceeded the number of sales in 2012 by 12 percent.

The number of condos sold for more than $1 million was 62 percent higher when comparing year-over-year totals, surpassing overall 2012 sales by 4 percent.

In terms of foreign real estate investment on Oahu so far this year, Japan remained in the top spot for both the $1 million to $2 million segment, and the $2 million-and-above price range with triple the number of homes sold as well as triple the dollar value of sales of other countries on the top four list combined, the report said.

Brazil made the list for the first time in the $1 million to $2 million category. In the $2 million-and-above segment, Hong Kong came in second with two homes sold and China joined the list for the first time since 2010.

“The second-home market on Oahu has returned, as evidenced by increased sales activity, particularly among single-family homes priced between $2 million and $3 million as well as the many new luxury condo units that are sold out,” Kahala Associates Broker-Owner Myra Brandt said in a statement. “We have seen stable demand and a declining inventory for single-family homes and condos, resulting in stiff competition and sometimes multiple offers. This puts pressure on home values, and it has been forecast that the median single-family home price is heading toward the $1 million range.”

But not all luxury market price ranges fared well in the third quarter, the number of sales in the $3 million to $5 million range declined by 10 percent, when comparing year-over-year numbers.

 

Luxury_Oahu_Estates_$2M -_$3M

Luxury_Oahu_Estates_$3M -_$4M

Luxury_Oahu_Estates_$4M -_$5M

Luxury_Oahu_Estates_$5M -_$6M

Luxury_Oahu_Estates_$6M -_$8M

Luxury_Oahu_Estates_$8M – 10M

Luxury_Oahu_Honolulu_Condos

Penthouse in Howard Hughes’ Ward project in Honolulu priced at record $50M

Dec 12, 2013, 2:59pm HST UPDATED: Dec 13, 2013, 10:24am HST
Duane Shimogawa Reporter – Pacific Business News

The Waiea tower in The Howard Hughes Corp.'s Ward Village in Honolulu has a penthouse priced at $50 million — a record asking price for a new condominium unit in Hawaii.

The Waiea tower in The Howard Hughes Corp.’s Ward Village in Honolulu has a penthouse priced at $50 million — a record asking price for a new condominium unit in Hawaii.

A penthouse with its own swimming pool in one of The Howard Hughes Corp.’s planned luxury condominiums in Honolulu’s Kakaako neighborhood is priced at $50 million — a record for the highest asking price ever for a new condominium unit in Hawaii, according to a Honolulu Realtor.

The building will include about 170 market-rate one-, two- and three-bedroom units, as well as 10 townhomes.

The $50 million pricetag for the penthouse is far above asking prices for other luxury units currently under development.

Some units at the 37-story Ritz-Carlton Residences, Waikiki Beach condo-hotel are priced as high as $15 million. Meantime, penthouse suites at the 23-story, 206-unit One Ala Moana ultra-luxury condominium that’s being built atop the parking garage of Nordstrom’s Ala Moana Center store, were priced as high as $10 million.

The other Ward Village tower, being called “Anaha,” located at the northeast corner of Auahi and Kamakee streets at the former Pier 1 Imports location, is expected to be in the luxury range, commanding up to $1,400 a square foot.

It will include about 310 one-, two- and three-bedroom units, with 82 apartments and townhomes.

Sales for both towers are expected to begin in late January for the general public.

A third tower, which will be 38 stories high and will include 424 affordable units at the site of the old Kanpai Bar and Grill on Ward Avenue, also is in the works.

The Howard Hughes Corp. (NYSE: HHC) plans to add more than 900 residential units in the first phase of its Ward master plan, which represents more than $1.25 billion in economic impact and thousands of direct and indirect jobs for Oahu, according to a study by ALH Urban & Regional Economics.

Through a spokeswoman, The Howard Hughes Corp. said that the launch date for sales of these two condos is set for early 2014, and that the price ranges are not yet publicly available.

OliverMcMillan breaks ground on Symphony Honolulu condominium project

Nov 20, 2013, 2:58pm HST
Duane Shimogawa Reporter  |  Pacific Business News

OliverMcMillan Pacific Rim LLC began construction Wednesday on its 388-unit, 45-story Symphony Honolulu mixed-use condominium tower at the corner of Kapiolani Boulevard and Ward Avenue, across from the Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu’s Kakaako neighborhood.

sym_CaptureMore than 150 people attended a groundbreaking ceremony for the project, which is located on 3.35 acres at 888 Kapiolani Blvd.

“Kakaako is a very exciting urban location, offering so much in exciting activities, location and culture,” OliverMcMillan CEO Dene Oliver said in a statement. “We’ve created spacious, artfully designed condominiums that appeal to the Hawaii market and where residents can make a home for years to come.”

Earlier this month, the developer said that First Hawaiian Bank is the lead bank among four lenders on a $120 million construction loan for the project.

Other lenders included Central Pacific Bank, American Savings Bank and the Washington Capital Joint Master Trust Mortgage income fund.

The condo tower will include market-rate and reserved residential units, as well as commercial space on the lower floors, including an automobile showroom for JN Automotive Group.

San Diego-based OliverMcMillan expects construction of Symphony Honolulu to take about 25 months to complete.

About 70 percent of the available units were sold within the first two days of sales, which began in June.

Howard Hughes CEO says Ward Village condos will be in high demand

Oct 3, 2013, 5:53am HST Updated: Oct 3, 2013, 7:24am HST
Duane Shimogawa  |  Reporter- Pacific Business News

Howard Hughes Corp. CEO David Weinreb, who was in Waikiki for an event this week honoring Hawaii’s top businesses, talks about why he feels that the planned Ward Village residential units in the Honolulu neighborhood of Kakaako will be in high demand.

This rendering shows The Howard Hughes Corp.'s planned market-rate condominium towers, which located diagonally across the street from each other at the corner of Auahi and Kamakee streets, part of the developer's Ward Village master-planned community. Courtesy The Howard Hughes Corp.

This rendering shows The Howard Hughes Corp.’s planned market-rate condominium towers, which located diagonally across the street from each other at the corner of Auahi and Kamakee streets, part of the developer’s Ward Village master-planned community.
Courtesy The Howard Hughes Corp.

The first phase, which includes three towers that have already have been approved by the Hawaii Community Development Authority, the state agency overseeing the redevelopment of Kakaako, will have some kind of grocery store component.

No general contractor has been selected yet for the first phase, which includes 900 residential units, according to Nick Vanderboom, senior vice president of development for Dallas-based Howard Hughes Corp. (NYSE: HHC), leading all development activities for the company’s Hawaii assets.

Sales for the first phase of the Ward Village residential projects will be starting soon.

Ward Village has development rights for 22 high-rise towers, which is scheduled to happen throughout the next decade.

http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/video/UxbTBjZjoioEviZJ3MyOKV3DBPD5oXwS?autoplay=1#ooid=UxbTBjZjoioEviZJ3MyOKV3DBPD5oXwS