In Waikīkī, gleaming luxury storefronts and high-end hotel lobbies now stare straight at boarded-up windows, weed-choked vacant lots and a scattering of rundown homes. People who live and work in the neighborhood say the blight is dragging down one of Hawaiʻi’s prime tourism corridors, yet city officials insist their options are slim when private owners are not breaking any rules. Huge redevelopment plans can eventually transform a block, but those are nine-figure, years-long efforts that offer little comfort to residents stuck with the mess today. Some of the starkest examples are shuttered buildings on Kalaimoku Street and a sprawling 19-parcel lot on Cleghorn Street.
City Power Has Tight Limits
Honolulu officials say their hands are largely tied when a landowner keeps a property idle but still follows zoning, building and safety codes. As reported by Honolulu Civil Beat, retired University of Hawaiʻi law professor David Callies told reporters that "there’s really not a whole lot the city can do" when owners comply with the rules. That legal reality helps explain why boarded doors, broken glass and overgrown yards keep popping up in Waikīkī even as neighbors and business owners lodge repeated complaints.
Condemnation Becomes The Go-To Move
When the city has stepped in, it has leaned on eminent domain and long-term redevelopment deals instead of nuisance takings. In 2023 Honolulu used condemnation to take control of a long-vacant building at 1615 Ala Wai Boulevard, then later chose a private partner to redevelop the parcel, according to Building Industry Hawaii. Demolition and pre-development work have pushed the project forward, and city officials have said they expect the site to be completed around 2027, per reporting by Spectrum News.
Big Buyers, Long Waits
Many of the boarded-up buildings lining Kalaimoku Street were snapped up in 2018 and 2019 by Sanko Soflan Hawaiʻi LLC, and city bond documents list a planned residential project for the area. City and county bond materials show Sanko Soflan tied to plans for roughly 130 residential units in Waikīkī, according to documents posted on Honolulu.gov, and state business filings identify GO LAW OFFICE LLLC as the company’s registered agent, per Hawaii Business Express. The remaining parcels on the block belong to other private owners, and neighborhood leaders say developers and owners have stayed largely silent in public about any short-term plans.
Residents Push Owners To Speak Up
State Rep. Adrian Tam has been pressing property owners for clearer answers and went as far as sponsoring a resolution that urges the city to buy a 19-parcel site on Cleghorn Street from Okada Trucking Co. "The owners of these properties should be very transparent," Tam told Honolulu Civil Beat. Members of the Waikīkī Neighborhood Board say they would gladly sit down with any developer who has concrete redevelopment plans, but say outreach so far has been limited.
Policy Fixes Crawl While Blight Spreads
Some community members argue that policy tools like tougher civil fines or higher tax rates on undeveloped land could prod reluctant owners into action, though those measures require time and political will. A previous look at the issue in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser highlighted calls to consider taxing vacant lots as a way to push redevelopment. For now, Honolulu appears poised to keep relying on selective condemnations and negotiated development deals, while residents and visitors watch blighted properties sit and wait for big projects to finally move from the planning desk to an active construction site.
