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Director Kevin Auger outlines master plan that could support up to 3,000 housing units near Cooley rail station
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Summary
City housing director Kevin Auger told the Honolulu infrastructure committee the administration has initiated master planning for roughly 17–18 acres around the future Cooley (Quilly) rail station, secured about $3.3 million in planning funds and engaged consultants; Auger said high-level models show the area could accommodate up to 3,000 housing units but flood maps and contamination pose material constraints.
Director Kevin Auger, director of the Department of Housing and Land Management, told the Committee on Infrastructure, Transportation and Technology on April 1 that the city has launched master planning for a 17–18 acre area around the future Cooley (Quilly) rail station, and that the city’s recent acquisitions and consultant hires set the stage for redevelopment.
Auger said the administration acquired the city-owned site known in the presentation as the Veil (Evole) Center (about 4 acres) and controls a substantial share of the rail-adjacent land: “the city and the state combined to control approximately 70% of this area,” he said. The presentation identified a chain of institutional landowners in the area and framed the project as an opportunity for transit-oriented redevelopment adjacent to downtown employment centers and Chinatown.
Why it matters: Auger said high-level modeling prepared with pro-bono technical support from the Center for Creative Land Recycling (CCLEAR) and consultant work suggests the site has unusually high housing potential. “We could accommodate potentially 3,000 units of housing on this site with a more effective master plan,” Auger said, a figure he described as a back-of-the-napkin estimate that will be refined by the consultant team.
What the city has secured and hired: Auger said the city won the largest award under a Federal Transit Administration TOD pilot NOFO—$2,000,000 for infrastructure study and master planning—and combined that with $700,000 from the state office of planning and sustainable development, $250,000 from the Department of Planning and Permitting, and roughly $75,000 remaining from an EPA grant to assemble just over $3,000,000 for planning work. The city issued a federal RFP and awarded a master-planning contract in November 2025 to a team including local firm DTL (Veil), design firm BDP Quadrangle, Nippon Kauai (flood/drainage expertise), and SSM International for infrastructure planning.
Auger said the team will deliver a street grid, massing and utility layout, and infrastructure cost estimates that the city can use to pursue coordinated funding packages from both the city and state. He told the committee the department is negotiating a predevelopment ground lease with a development team that includes EAH Housing and CoreTech Development (Guam) and plans to demolish the existing Veil Center in the first or second quarter of next year as part of a phased redevelopment approach.
Constraints and risk factors: Auger identified two material constraints for near-term development: updated FEMA flood maps taking effect in June, which place portions of nearby state land in a regulatory floodway and will reduce developable area, and pockets of historic industrial contamination across the site. He said the city applied in February for a $500,000 EPA assessment grant to study contamination and that Nippon Kauai has been retained in part for flood-mitigation design. Auger said possible mitigation approaches include raising portions of the site, storing runoff, retreating vertically (placing parking on ground floors) and other design techniques.
Council questions and next steps: Council member DeSantis Tam and Vice Chair Okimoto pressed Auger on timing, interim steps and zoning coordination. DeSantis Tam urged that the city accelerate Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) zoning—which he said may not be completed until 2030–2031—so projects can access state TOD funding under Act 159. Auger said the department will return with a progress update in about six months and emphasized that zoning, infrastructure funding and the council’s decisions on density are interdependent. Auger also described the city’s approach to financing tools such as TIF and community facilities districts: “All of these financing techniques are tools… you match the right tool with the project,” he said.
No votes or formal actions were taken at the meeting. Auger said the master-planning contract has deliverable deadlines over roughly the next two years; the city intends to produce cost estimates and coordinate a funding request to both the council and the state once the consultant work identifies priorities. The committee heard no registered public testimony and adjourned after a brief announcement about a local town hall.
What to watch: the consultant master-plan deliverables due under the city contract, the EPA assessment grant outcome, DPP’s TOD zoning timeline and any council resolutions that would authorize financing tools or match funding for infrastructure.
