City Council Green-Lights Castle & Cooke’s Koa Ridge Master-Planned Development

By Adriana Pop, Associate Editor

The Honolulu City Council has approved the rezoning of agricultural land in Central Oahu, the Pacific Business News reports. The decision paves the way for the development of Castle & Cooke Hawaii Homes’ Koa Ridge master-planned community, which calls for 3,500 single- and multifamily homes, a medical center, a mixed-use village center, shopping outlets, a hotel, light industrial, recreation areas, as well as churches and open space. The project is slated to rise across 576 acres of land located between Mililani and Waipio.

Castle & Cooke is in the process of finalizing the master plan and expects to break ground in 2015. Construction is expected to span 15 years.   

The economic impact of the project will include the creation of 1,000 annual construction jobs, as well as an additional 1,600 indirect and induced jobs and 2,300 permanent jobs, 1,100 of which will be in the medical field. Opponents argue that Koa Ridge will have a negative impact on agriculture and traffic.

In other news, the Pacific Business News reports that Colliers International Hawaii is marketing for sale two office buildings in downtown Honolulu.

One of the properties is the 100,353-square-foot, eight-story Ocean View Center owned by the U.S. Postal Service at 707 Richards St. The building’s current tenants include the state of Hawaii, DCK Leasing Co. and Healthcare Association of Hawaii.

The brokerage firm is also listing the 84,399-square-foot, eight-story Haseko Center next door. The state of Hawaii, Atlas Insurance Agency and Cubic Applications are the property’s tenants.

City tax records indicate that the total assessed value of both properties is $35.6 million, including $14.5 million for the Haseko Center and $21.1 million for the Ocean View Center.

Photo credits: www.koaridge.com