Construction ready to begin on affordable housing project near Ala Moana
JL Capital has officially broken ground on Amana Lofts, a new affordable housing development at 765 Amana St. that will bring 64 rental units to Hono lulu's urban core.
Located near Ala Moana Center and the planned Ala Moana rail station, the project aims to meet the growing demand for affordable housing in one of the city's most accessible and transit-connected neighborhoods. The development will convert a five-story former office building with ground-floor parking into studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments.
According to Michael Vachio, senior vice president of construction and development, the building had remained mostly vacant after years of use as an office space.
Rather than acquiring new land, the project will utilize the existing structure by demolishing and redeveloping it into affordable housing, making use of the site's central location and existing infrastructure.
Each unit will feature contemporary interiors and 14-foot ceilings, with the design focused on repurposing existing infrastructure to create modern, functional living spaces for local residents.
All 64 units will be reserved for households earning up to 80 % of the area median income, in line with City and County of Honolulu affordable housing requirements. This ensures that working families, seniors and individuals can access stable housing options in a central location.
As of 2025, HUD has set the AMI for the Urban Honolulu area at $129, 300 for a four-person household. Based on that figure, 80 % AMI translates to an annual income of $121, 600 for a family of four.
The limits are used to determine eligibility for affordable housing programs and are adjusted annually to reflect changes in the local economy—and help ensure that housing resources are targeted to residents most in need of assistance.
The project will also include on-site parking, elevator access and shared mobility options such as carshare and bikeshare programs to enhance transportation access for residents.
Vachio said the project is completely privately funded, with a total cost of around $14 million.
Amana Lofts is scheduled for completion in 2026.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Digital Trends
10 minutes ago
- Digital Trends
PlayStation State of Play June 2025: How to watch and what to expect
E3 may be long dead and buried, but its spirit still lives on every June. This week is a loaded one for video game showcases, as we'll get Summer Game Fest, the Xbox Games Showcase, and more streaming over the next few days. Now you can add one more must-watch showcase to your radar: PlayStation's State of Play. Tomorrow, June 4, Sony will give fans a major update on what's coming to PS5 with a sizable stream. That's great news, because the back half of Sony's year is a bit of a mystery right now beyond two or three major games. What else in store for PS5 owners this year? Here's all the information you need so you can catch the show. And if you can't watch it live, stay tuned to Digital Trends, as we'll keep you updated on all the big news. Recommended Videos When is the June 2025 PlayStation State of Play? The PlayStation State of Play will air on Wednesday, June 4, just one day ahead of the Nintendo Switch 2's launch. It will air at 2 p.m. PT and will run for over 40 minutes. That positions it as a substantial broadcast, rather than a short show meant to highlight a few key games. How to watch the June 2025 PlayStation State of Play If you want to catch the show live, you'll be able to watch it on either PlayStation's YouTube or Twitch channel. And don't worry if you miss it: a VOD should be available right after it wraps up. We've embedded the YouTube video above, so you can watch it here if you'd like. What to expect from the June 2025 PlayStation State of Play Sony is being vague about what exactly it's showing this time. All it says in its blog post announcing the stream is that it will show off PS5 games from creators around the world. PlayStation VR2 isn't mentioned, so don't expect to see any new VR games. So, what's likely to show up? With Death Stranding 2: On the Beach slated to launch later this month, we wouldn't be surprised to see one more trailer hyping it up. Marathon is likely to appear as well considering that Sony owns Bungie, though there are rumors swirling that its upcoming release could be delayed. And of course, Ghost of Yotei should get a spotlight here considering that it's the PS5's big fall exclusive. Other than that, the field is wide open. This has historically been a very exciting show for Sony, as it usually nabs big reveals from third-party partners like Square Enix and Capcom. There's a good chance we see something like Resident Evil 9 here, giving us a big shocker before Summer Game Fest. It's possible that Sony has its own surprises in store too, as we know that Marvel's Wolverine is next in the pipeline. We're overdue for a update on that one, so it could pop up as a grand reveal. Whatever appears, it should be an exciting way to kick off a very busy week in gaming.
The Verge
11 minutes ago
- The Verge
Epic is bringing AI Darth Vader's tech to Fortnite creators
Epic Games is going to allow Fortnite creators to make AI-powered NPCs that work similar to the recently-launched AI Darth Vader. The company showed off the tech at its State of Unreal show on Tuesday. Using the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN), creators can make characters with personalities that they can voice chat with. Creators will be able to set the type of voice, their delivery, and the AI NPC's characteristics when the feature is available later this year. In a live demo shown onstage at the event, two Epic staffers showed a conversation with an AI character, 'Mr. Buttons,' whose sole purpose was to try and get the player to press a big red button in the room. For example, one Epic staffer asked a question about the screens in the room saying not to press the button, and the AI wanted the player to push the rules and press the button. In May, Epic added a Darth Vader NPC to Fortnite that could speak to players using an AI-powered version of James Earl Jones' voice. Jones' estate approved of the use of his voice. However, Epic had to issue a hotfix after players got the AI Darth Vader to swear. The AI NPCs aren't the only AI-focused news for Fortnite creators. Epic is also beta testing the Epic Developer Assistant, an AI chatbot that can help UEFN creators write code in UEFN's Verse programming language. The beta test is live today. Epic also announced that new franchises will be available for UEFN creators to make experiences with. Squid Game assets will be available starting June 27th — the same day as the premiere of the show's third and final season — and creators will be able to publish Squid Game experiences later this summer. Avatar: The Last Airbender, which appeared in Fortnite last year, will be available for creators to build with in 2026. Star Wars assets will be available at some point in the future. And on June 17th, creators will also be able to build LEGO experiences brick by brick, which should allow for more customizable LEGO experiences.
Forbes
12 minutes ago
- Forbes
Cities Consider Using Eminent Domain For Unholy Property Seizures
A person takes a picture of the childhood home of the new Pope Leo XIV in Dolton, Illinois, (Photo ... More by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images) Robert Prevost grew up in a modest home in the south Chicago suburb of Dolton, Illinois. Recently, a realty company purchased that old home, fixed it up, and put it up for sale. Then a few weeks ago, Robert Prevost became Pope Leo XIV. Now that modest home is in demand. The house is supposed to be auctioned off, with bidding starting at $250,000. How much of a premium will people pay for the childhood home of a Pope? Ten percent? Twenty? Nobody knows because this hasn't happened before—we can't make a guess based on past sales of 'childhood Pope homes.' And we may never find out. Dolton officials are threatening to use eminent domain to force a sale so the home can become a publicly accessible historic site. But while taking the home for a public use meets the constitution's requirements to take property, the price the city ends up paying could be less than divine. When the government takes property through eminent domain, the constitution says it must pay 'just compensation' for the property, which courts say is whatever price the property would fetch on the open market. But figuring out what that price is can be tricky, and the government often stiffs property owners when it can get away with it. ProPublica had a series of articles several years ago showing how the federal government paid very different prices for property depending on whether owners could afford attorneys. That's where the planned auction would have been helpful. After all, the best evidence of how big a 'Pope premium' the house commands on the open market would be an auction on the open market. And that may well be why the city moved so quickly: In May, city officials darkly warned the current owner to make sure bidders knew 'their 'purchase' may be only temporary since the Village intends to begin the eminent domain process very shortly.' If the city can suppress bids at the auction, it leaves itself the option of arguing that the real value of the property is what the home was on sale for before the Pope's elevation: $199,900. It could even argue it should be lower than that. The Pope himself has been quite busy and hasn't commented specifically on what should happen with his old family home, but Christian Britschgi writing for Reason noted that his first included the line: "[Saint] Peter must shepherd the flock without ever yielding to the temptation to be an autocrat.' The actual 'fair market' price for a Pope's childhood home may be high or it may be low, but Dolton shouldn't be afraid of the truth. And it shouldn't be using public power to try to stop the current owners' efforts to find out exactly what their property is worth in the real world. Meanwhile, a city in New Jersey is considering another unholy use of eminent domain, except here it is directed squarely at a church. In Toms River, the Christ Episcopal Church wants to open a small homeless shelter on its property. But the town has a different plan for the church's property: pickleball courts and a skate park. Christ Episcopal hosts a number of community programs, including an affordable housing nonprofit. That nonprofit recently submitted plans to the zoning board for a 17-bed overnight shelter on the church property. Like many areas across America, rising home prices have contributed to rising homelessness across New Jersey. One group estimates that the number of homeless residents in the region has doubled in recent years. But for the mayor of Toms River, a new park complex along the city's eponymous river is a priority. He said the church's property is, 'a great opportunity for parking, for recreation.' Broader plans for the area include taking nearby waterfront property to build a tiki bar and jet ski rentals. The church found out about the effort to seize its property a mere 24 hours before the city council first considered a measure. It passed by a 4-3 vote in a contentious meeting where council members yelled at each other. A second approval may come this week. That the vote to take the property came just three weeks before the zoning board considered the application for the shelter is far too convenient. The Fifth Amendment allows government to take property for public use and parks usually fit that definition. But the town doesn't want a park so much as it doesn't want a homeless shelter. Whether or not this kind of bad faith use of eminent domain is constitutional is a somewhat open question. For instance, in nearby Connecticut the state supreme court rejected an attempt to stop an affordable housing development with sham playing fields. Massachusetts, Georgia, and Rhode Island similarly prohibit these so-called pre-textual takings. Last fall, the Supreme Court almost took up the case of a Long Island hardware store chain that lost its property to a town for a 'passive park' (the town had no plan to develop the land). Justices Thomas, Gorsuch, and Alito said they would have granted the case but four votes are needed to achieve Supreme Court review. Pretextual takings are an incredible threat to private property. As long as the government is willing to pay the 'fair market' price practically any property can be seized. That market price doesn't include whatever an owner might spend in court trying to keep their property. Challenging even the most outlandish use of eminent domain could mean coming out the other end of the process without a home or business and poorer for it. The Asbury Park Press speculated that the New Jersey episcopal diocese's poor financial situation may be a consideration in whether it negotiates or resists. For now though, the church has indicated it will fight and it has support from other area houses of worship. The mayor has talked about the need to 'balance the hardships' of a community without a park and speculated that the church congregants could simply 'drive to a different location every Sunday.' This is a grim view of governing that is fundamentally at odds with America's traditions of property and religious rights. Christ Episcopal has been in Toms River since 1865 and it wants to use its property to fulfill its religious mission to care for the poor at no expense to the town. The mayor wants to provide convenient recreation at cost to the taxpayers. The U.S. Constitution gave government the power of eminent domain but courts shouldn't merely roll over whenever government presents a plan to take private property. The Fifth Amendment also says that no one should be deprived of their property without due process of law. When the government presents an unholy use of eminent domain, judges should consider all the facts and uphold justice.
