Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 40, Number 1, 1 January 2023 — HAKUONE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HAKUONE

Continued from page 10 Hawaiian healing practices. Day care for both keiki and aging kūpuna. Early visualizations of Hakuone include ample open space, parks and greenways featuring native and endemic trees and plants, walking paths, and a waterfront boardwalk. Every building will prioritize sustainable building practices - renewable energy, energy efbciency, gray water reclamation, and more. There will be ample parking and muhiple transit options. Most importantly, the Hakuone plan includes a full spectrum of housing options. In fact, residential development is a requirement, needed to complete the vision of a whole community, as well as to make the rest of the project possible. Limited higher-end residences will allow Hakuone to provide affordable and workforce development housing to the broader community, and to fund a broad menu of neighborhood amenities. Hakuone could heeome a source of abundance and pride for our lāhui and help the Native Hawaiian and loeal community in myriad ways: housing that is within our reach, eeonomie development, neighborhood beautification, and preservation and promotion of Hawaiian culture. All of these things are possible. But one thing stands in our way. A flawed deal Things in Hawai'i were quite different in 2012. The Howard Hughes Corporation had only just taken over Ward Village two years prior, its ambitious development plans still forming. The state was still digging its way out of a $1.8 hillion deficit and recovering from the indignity of "Furlough Fridays." It was during this budget crisis that the Hawai'i State government made OHA an offer it couldn't refuse. There was no question that the state was far behind in its required payments to OHA of its 20% pro rata share of ceded land revenues, even as the question as to whieh lands qualified was being argued in court. The Legislature had determined in 2006 that OHA was due $15.1 million per year (an interim allocation), plus over $73 million for previous underpayments. As the dispute over these numbers continued, the debt to OHA continued to grow. In order to settle back payment claims spanning 1978 through 2012, the state offered OHA 30 acres of land across 10 parcels in Kaka'ako. Although not all contiguous properties and only a few of them oceanfront, the state assured OHA they were worth $200 million. Given only until the end of the legislative session to decide, and seeing the state's empty coffers, OHA took the deal and Act 15 was passed with promises of future entitlements. These parcels have remained undeveloped for a decade, while just a few blocks ma uka, nearly a dozen Ward Village towers now pierce the sky. To be sure, OHA's plans for what is now called Hakuone have shifted and evolved over time.

But more critically, that $200 million deal in 2012 has proven to be deeply flawed. There is significant degradation in the core infrastructure of the much-touted oceanfront parcels. Unsurprisingly, the state had, even then, deferred important maintenance to the bulkhead, or retaining wall, that protects properties from oeean waves and erosion. These were problems that were known to the state for decades before the deal, but not disclosed at the time. To upgrade the bulkhead to modern standards will cost OHA tens of millions of dollars - money that should have been spent by the state during its long dominion over the area. Additionally, the state's $200 million valuation of the land assumed that OHA would be able to fully capitalize on its highest and best use, whieh should have included the same rights afforded to Howard Hughes Corporation across the street. However, because an earlier development plan that involved resort development rightfully prompted puhlie outcry, a law was passed in 2006 banning residential development in the area. The state promised OHA that there would be eompanion legislation to Act 15 to restore the right to build housing. But that never happened. This rendered OHA unahle to realize anything close to the $200 million that the state claimed the parcels were worth. A hnaneial analysis and renewed due diligence are underway now to determine the true value of the land. Had the state simply written OHA a eheek for $200 million, the agency could have earned an additional $200 million today based on a 7% average market rate of return. Instead, 30 acres of supposedly prime coastal land remains largely untapped. There is no doubt the state has fallen far short of its promises to OHA. Today, the State of Hawai'i clearly has the resources

to make things pono. Our lawmakers need only find the courage to give Native Hawaiians a true opportunity to create our own "live, work, play" community - the same opportunity previous lawmakers eagerly gave to developers from the continent who court foreign investors. Malcing things pono Hakuone is not a mere real estate development. It represents, at long last, a complete and robust community of our own design, to support and uplift our people and culture, and to finally provide a vibrant home and center of civic life for Native Hawaiians. A center that everyone ean enjoy. This incredible opportunity started with what seemed like an insurmountable debt owed by the state to the Hawaiian people. The transfer of 30 acres of land that will be used to build Hakuone was no small gesture. But there is a lot more to be done. Even the artistic renderings of a future Hakuone stand in stark contrast to the cold reality of its neighbors across the street, both in intent and design. Loeal kama aina, not wealthy foreign real estate investors, are to be the beneficiaries of the work behind and ahead of us. Hawaiians are owed this opportunity to create a community of our own on the land we onee stewarded, designing - and building - as we see fit. To realize the "live, work, and play" vision for Hakuone, you need people to actually live there. And though few vestiges of loeal life in Kaka'ako remain, we need to remember that the neighborhood was onee the home of notable Hawaiians like Gabby Pahinui and Aunty Genoa Keawe. People, ultimately, are the core of every community. A state law, thrown up in defense against a long-for-SEE HAKU0NE ON PAGE 12

At Hakuone, the Office of Howoiion Affoirs envisions o mixed-use urbon center built by, ond for, loeol people; o gothering ploee thot includes o center for visuol ond performing orts, beolth ond healing facilities, restaurants, shops featuring Hawaiian products, and housing that kama'āina ean actually afford. This is a rendering of Hakuone looking 'Ewo. In the foreground is Kewalo Basin Horbor ond in the distance ore the Wai'anae AAountoins.