HCDA votes to buy Kakaʻako Block P2 for $6 million; plans short-term lease to Kupuna Shed, long-term housing development

The Hawaiʻi Community Development Authority on April 2 authorized its executive director to enter a purchase-and-sale agreement to buy two contiguous parcels in Kakaʻako known as Block P2 for $6,000,000, with industrial floor-area credit to the seller and conditions tied to satisfactory due diligence.

The board vote followed a staff presentation by Craig Nakamoto, the authority’s executive director, who said the parcels at 952 Kauaihau Street and 955 Waimanu Street (Oʻahu tax map key numbers 2-3-003-065-093) include an existing warehouse of roughly 6,000–8,000 square feet and were appraised at about $7,000,500 before the negotiated purchase price. Nakamoto described the acquisition as funded in part by a $5,000,000 legislative appropriation for a community facility and said HCDA would grant the seller, Ward Village affiliate Block G Ward Village LLC, an industrial floor-area credit equal to 8,757.72 square feet under the seller’s amended and restated development agreement.

Why it matters: The authority framed the purchase as an early step to secure a community facility space and to preserve the site for future affordable housing development in Kakaʻako. Board members repeatedly cited the island’s affordable housing shortage as a rationale for acquiring land rather than risking…