November 28, 2008
Contributed by Thomas Yoshida
Under the Kaiāulu 'o Kaka'ako (Kaka'ako community) Master Plan the gritty city landscape mauka of Ala Moana Boulevard will become a lively streetscape, with a tree-lined central boulevard connecting Mother Waldron and Gateway Parks, an open market, and a variety of housing options at a range of prices. Many existing small businesses will remain, and a number of existing buildings will be adapted and re-used.
The mauka neighborhood, bordered by Ala Moana Boulevard, Halekauwila Street, South Street and Ward Avenue, will support the innovation industries being developed makai of Ala Moana. Kamehameha Schools is currently planning an innovation technologies center on a 5-acre property behind the old Gold Bond Building at 677 Ala Moana, adjacent to the John A. Burns School of Medicine and the planned cancer research center. Groundbreaking for the $80 million first phase of the innovation center may begin as early as late-2009 or early 2010.
"This village will support all of our children who come back and work in the innovation industries that are going to be happening on the makai side of Ala Moana boulevard, said Sydney Keli'ipuleole, Kamehameha's director of residential assets. "Our young people can return home to Hawai'i to living-and-high-wage jobs at the innovation center and walk home after work to a neighborhood populated by restaurants and businesses that serve all of their needs. They'll be able to connect with each other in one of our pocket parks, in a café, or at a cultural performance. They'll be able to dream together and perhaps come up with great ideas for new innovations."
The Kaiāulu 'o Kaka'ako Master Plan envisions a variety of housing options at a range of prices, utilizing "green" building designs, materials and landscaping. Low-rise apartment buildings at the street level will be mixed in with commercial space. High-rise residential towers will be set back from the street fronts and positioned to preserve mauka-makai view corridors. Shared parking, pedestrian walkways and bike paths will minimize traffic flow within the neighborhood, and the city's planned transit line at Halekauwila Street and bus system throughout the district will provide added transportation alternatives to those who work in the Bishop Street business district and elsewhere in the city.
"Our Endowment assets provide the income that sustains our mission to provide educational opportunities to Native Hawaiian in perpetuity. But economics is only one of five values that drive our Endowment decisions," explained Keli'ipuleole. "Kaiāulu 'o Kaka'ako will optimize returns according to all five values. It will be a community that connects its residents to their jobs and to each other. It will sustain our environment with green buildings and pedestrian-focused planning. It will support learning at the innovation sectors on the makai side of Ala Moana Boulevard, and it will allow cultural expressions of all varieties, rooted by the Native Hawaiian culture. Kaiāulu 'o Kaka'ako will be a tremendous asset for all of Hawai'i."
Kamehameha Schools is a private, educational, charitable trust founded and endowed by the legacy of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop. Kamehameha Schools operates a statewide educational system enrolling more than 6,700 students of Hawaiian ancestry at K-12 campuses on O'ahu, Maui and Hawai'i and at 31 preschool sites statewide. Thousands of additional Hawaiian learners are also being served through a range of other Kamehameha Schools outreach programs, community collaborations and financial aid opportunities in Hawai'i and across the continental United States.
Kamehameha Schools’ policy is to give preference to applicants of Hawaiian ancestry to the extent permitted by law.
