Built in the heart of Honolulu’s central business district, Kōkua Hale Senior Living is a testament to the city’s priority of providing affordable housing for kūpuna in areas with ample options for shopping, public transportation, medical care and places to gather.
The 20-story apartment complex at 1192 Alakea St. is within walking distance to nearby dining and shopping options. It welcomes seniors 55 years and up with household incomes at or below 30 percent and 60 percent of the area median income.
The general contractor for the $88 million project was Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co. Inc., which was involved from the project’s 2021 groundbreaking through its finish last year.
A HALE OF ONE’S OWN
Kōkua Hale includes 222 residential studio apartments, ranging from 260 to 330 square feet in size.
A landscaped outer deck offers shaded seating and a community garden for residents to grow their own vegetables. A community room is located at the top-most level offering additional space for residents to meet, gather and enjoy views of the surrounding city.
On the sixth floor, referred to as the podium level, are a laundry room, common lanai space, office space and residential units for the building manager and resident services manager.
Other amenities include five floors of parking, meeting and laundry facilities and the option for residents to have one pet under 30 pounds. Every apartment includes a kitchen with electric cooking range, refrigerator and sink, plus a bathroom with a shower, sink and toilet — all meeting standards set by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Twelve units are fully ADA accessible.
Highridge Costa Housing Partners LLC of Gardena, Calif., and Coastal Rim Properties of Honolulu worked together to develop Kōkua; the project was designed by SVA Architects, with GC Hawaiian Dredging hiring subcontractors for much of the work.
A POSTAGE-STAMP-SIZED LOT
Kōkua Hale is tightly positioned next to the Pinnacle condominium and Hawaiian Telcom on Bishop Street, with two of busiest streets in downtown Honolulu — Alakea and Beretania — nearby.
“In addition, the lot size was 12,000 square feet and the building foot print was 9,900 square feet. It was a 20-story building on a postage-stamp-size lot,” says Wes Asao, Hawaiian Dredging project director. “Hi-tech software played a critical role in assisting with the façade installation and other facets of the project.”
DOING THE HEAVY LIFTING
O‘ahu-based subcontractor McClone Construction Co. (MCC) was the concrete form-work contractor for Kōkua Hale, building both the residential tower and parking garage.
MCC was challenged not only by vehiclular traffic, but also by the lot size of the project, with towers on either side.
“The city would not allow construction to impact lanes of traffic, so all concrete operations were required within the tight jobsite,” says Maegan Best, project manager at McClone Construction. “For the level two slab, column-hung flyers were fabricated and hoisted directly up into position, creating enough clear and open space on the ground level for pump and concrete trucks to back into the site.”
Best credits MCC Superintendent Alika Borabora for collaborating with Hawaiian Dredging superintendents Jerry Kusunoki and Rod Rivo for getting work completed on time, within budget and without injuries.
“Great job, Hawaiian Dredging,” Best says. “Thank you for the opportunity to build the Kōkua project with you.”
KŌKUA HALE:
THE SUBCONTRACTORS
(In alphabetical order)
Affiliated Construction LLC
Beachside Roofing LLC
BF Tile Inc.
CJ Peterson Services Inc.
CMC Steel Fabricators Inc. dba Associated Steel Workers
Commercial Sheetmetal Co. Inc.
Dorvin D. Leis Co. Inc.
Group Builders Inc.
Gima Pest Control Inc.
Harry Asato Painting Inc.
Island Pacific Installers LLC
Island Flooring
Kalu Glass Co.
Leeward Landscape Inc.
M Watanabe Electrical Contracting Inc.
McClone Construction Co.
Otis Elevator Co.
Sky High Cleaning LLC
United Steel LLC
Window World Inc.
The Zelinsky Co.
A POSTAGE-STAMP-SIZED LOT
Kōkua Hale is tightly positioned next to the Pinnacle condominium and Hawaiian Telcom on Bishop Street, with two of busiest streets in downtown Honolulu — Alakea and Beretania — nearby.
“In addition, the lot size was 12,000 square feet and the building foot print was 9,900 square feet. It was a 20-story building on a postage-stamp-size lot,” says Wes Asao, Hawaiian Dredging project director. “Hi-tech software played a critical role in assisting with the façade installation and other facets of the project.”
DOING THE HEAVY LIFTING
O‘ahu-based subcontractor McClone Construction Co. (MCC) was the concrete form-work contractor for Kōkua Hale, building both the residential tower and parking garage.
MCC was challenged not only by vehiclular traffic, but also by the lot size of the project, with towers on either side.
“The city would not allow construction to impact lanes of traffic, so all concrete operations were required within the tight jobsite,” says Maegan Best, project manager at McClone Construction. “For the level two slab, column-hung flyers were fabricated and hoisted directly up into position, creating enough clear and open space on the ground level for pump and concrete trucks to back into the site.”
Best credits MCC Superintendent Alika Borabora for collaborating with Hawaiian Dredging superintendents Jerry Kusunoki and Rod Rivo for getting work completed on time, within budget and without injuries.
“Great job, Hawaiian Dredging,” Best says. “Thank you for the opportunity to build the Kōkua project with you.”
As is typical for construction of towers that include elevators, a shaft built by McClone to transport concrete as Kōkua Hale grew was later turned over to Otis Elevators for cab installation. PHOTO COURTESY MCCLONE CONSTRUCTION COMPANY
Studio apartments at Kōkua Hale range in size from 260 square feet to 330 square feet. The studio apartment above is 339 square feet. PHOTO COURTESY LIVEATKOKUAHALE.COM
A POSTAGE-STAMP-SIZED LOT
Kōkua Hale is tightly positioned next to the Pinnacle condominium and Hawaiian Telcom on Bishop Street, with two of busiest streets in downtown Honolulu — Alakea and Beretania — nearby.
“In addition, the lot size was 12,000 square feet and the building foot print was 9,900 square feet. It was a 20-story building on a postage-stamp-size lot,” says Wes Asao, Hawaiian Dredging project director. “Hi-tech software played a critical role in assisting with the façade installation and other facets of the project.”
DOING THE HEAVY LIFTING
O‘ahu-based subcontractor McClone Construction Co. (MCC) was the concrete form-work contractor for Kōkua Hale, building both the residential tower and parking garage.
MCC was challenged not only by vehiclular traffic, but also by the lot size of the project, with towers on either side.
“The city would not allow construction to impact lanes of traffic, so all concrete operations were required within the tight jobsite,” says Maegan Best, project manager at McClone Construction. “For the level two slab, column-hung flyers were fabricated and hoisted directly up into position, creating enough clear and open space on the ground level for pump and concrete trucks to back into the site.”
Best credits MCC Superintendent Alika Borabora for collaborating with Hawaiian Dredging superintendents Jerry Kusunoki and Rod Rivo for getting work completed on time, within budget and without injuries.
“Great job, Hawaiian Dredging,” Best says. “Thank you for the opportunity to build the Kōkua project with you.”
Highridge Contracted to Build 10K More Affordable Homes
In July 2023, Highridge Costa Development Co. was named master developer of the Ka Lei Momi Redevelopment Project. Highridge is currently in the process of adding more than 10,000 affordable housing units to nine properties across Hawai‘i. The scope of Ka Lei Momi is to replace and build new housing units for extremely low-income individuals, families and workforce employees, transforming the existing low-density public housing properties into mixed-income and transit-oriented communities.
Other Highridge projects include:
- Hale Laulima in Pearl City: 36 units, plus 700
additional planned - Ka‘ahumanu Homes in Honolulu: 152 existing units, with plans to add another 1,550
- Kamehameha Homes in Honolulu: 221 existing units, with another 2,950 planned
- Kahekili Terrace in Wailuku, Maui: 82 existing units, with plans for an additional 200
- Kapa‘a in Kapa‘a, Kaua‘i: 36 existing units, with plans to add 110 more
- Lanakila Homes in Hilo, Hawai‘i: 168 units, with plans to add another 250
- Mayor Wright Homes in Honolulu: 364 units, plans call for 2,450 more
- Nānākuli Homes in Wai‘anae: 36 existing units, 500 additional planned
- Pu‘uwai Momi in ‘Aiea: 260 current units, with plans to add 2,170 more
