The City and County of Honolulu has tapped nonprofit EAH Housing as the preferred developer to overhaul the Iwilei Center, a nearly four-acre, city-owned site next to the future Kūwili Skyline station. City officials and the developer say the plan centers on hundreds of affordable apartments wrapped with ground-floor retail, community space and transit-connected public areas. Parts of the existing warehouse complex are being used this year as temporary transitional housing, and city leaders say those services would be relocated later in the process, not overnight.
The selection was announced this week. As reported by Spectrum News Hawaii, EAH will now work with the city to hammer out a development agreement and a ground lease. Spectrum also noted that the choice came after a Request for Qualifications issued earlier this year under Gov. Josh Green’s tenth proclamation related to affordable housing.
Project Partners And The Plan
According to Hawaii News Now, EAH will lead the project with Core Tech signed on as co-developer and Lowney Architecture in charge of design. The City’s RFQ and mayoral materials outline a mixed-use, transit-oriented development that layers in retail and community amenities alongside "hundreds" of affordable units. Exact unit counts, income levels and how the project will be phased are all slated to be worked out during predevelopment and public engagement, as laid out in the City’s RFQ.
Shelters On Site And Timeline
The Iwilei Center is already pulling double duty. The property has been repurposed this year to host transitional programs, including the neuroscience-informed Kumu Ola Hou shelter described by Overstory, along with additional Mental Health Kokua transitional units that opened on site this summer. A spokesperson for the mayor told Spectrum News Hawaii that the city "will be looking to relocate the shelter when the time comes" and that ground-up redevelopment is still "a couple years away."
What Comes Next For Neighbors
Before any cranes appear, the project must clear environmental review, land-use approvals and complex financing work, with officials saying early community engagement is expected to start later this year. The Department of Housing and Land Management has pitched the Iwilei Center as a key early move inside the Kūwili Station transit-oriented development area, and the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation maps Kūwili station at Dillingham Boulevard and Kaʻaʻahi Street as part of the Skyline network.
EAH will now enter negotiations with the city to lock in terms, after which the team will shape design details, phasing and a construction schedule through the public process. Neighbors, transit planners and affordable housing advocates can expect a round of public meetings and design updates as the project moves from big-picture master planning into permitting and full design.
