A state agency's attempt to swap a popular Kakaako fitness studio for a nonprofit senior woodshop inside a World War II-era warehouse has collapsed under public pressure, leaving both groups' futures uncertain as the property heads toward becoming affordable housing. The Hawaii Community Development Authority had planned to replace F45 Training Ala Moana with the nonprofit Honolulu Kupuna Shed at the warehouse, but the agency has since pulled back that plan amid questions over fairness and transparency.
The warehouse in question sits on Block P-2, a 6,880-square-foot structure built in 1943 with an adjacent parking lot at 956 Kawaiahao St., according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. HCDA acquired the property, along with the adjacent parcel at 955 Waimanu Street, from Ward Village developer Howard Hughes Holdings for $6 million in September 2025, a deal that also granted the developer 8,757.72 square feet of industrial floor area credit, according to Hawaii Community Development Authority records. The HCDA Kakaako Board had authorized the purchase in April 2025.
F45 Training Ala Moana currently pays about $300,000 a year in fair-market rent under its lease and counts more than 600 members, per the Star-Advertiser's reporting. Co-owner Sara Freeman, who runs the gym with Keith Winnacott, asked that F45 remain open as long as possible to serve the community. The gym's existing five-year lease was set to expire at the end of October, but HCDA has since offered a three-month extension through January, signed by Bill Chismar, that includes a clause allowing termination within 60 days if the eventual affordable-housing developer needs the property. HCDA Executive Director Craig Nakamoto later said he plans to extend F45's lease for 12 to 18 months instead.
A Nonprofit's Long Search for Stable Ground
Honolulu Kupuna Shed, established in 2016, is one of three Men's Shed affiliates on Oahu and is affiliated with the U.S. Men's Shed Association. The organization has about 240 members and charges $100 a year for membership. Its space features extensive woodworking machinery and a bike repair shop, and the nonprofit has built balusters for 'Iolani Palace among its projects. Board minutes from HCDA in April 2025 recorded that the group processed and restored roughly 200 bicycles over the preceding year for community donation and low-cost transportation, according to Hawaii Community Development Authority minutes.
The nonprofit has faced repeated displacement. It faced eviction from a Kamehameha Schools warehouse in May 2025 before landing at its current warehouse space at 327 Lana Lane, also owned by Kamehameha Schools. That landlord extended the lease through the end of 2026, though Kamehameha Schools retains an option to give the nonprofit a 60-day move-out notice starting May 1, 2026. Depending on how that plays out, the group could remain at Lana Lane through the end of 2027. In the meantime, the shed is exploring relocation sites on Office of Hawaiian Affairs land in Kakaako and at the Queen Theater in Kaimuki. The dossier notes this warehouse dispute follows the group's earlier displacement from an oceanfront harbor warehouse in early 2024, which HCDA helped resolve by brokering the Lana Lane arrangement with Kamehameha Schools.
Legislature's $5 Million and a Pulled-Back Plan
The underlying money traces back to the Hawaii Legislature, which appropriated $5 million in 2024 for a community facility supporting social programs and community activities in Kakaako. The Senate Ways and Means Committee added that appropriation to the state budget bill under Act 230, House Bill 1800, signed into law in July 2024. Nakamoto has said the appropriation was not designated for any specific organization. HCDA's June 2024 Strategic Plan had initially targeted Mother Waldron Park for the facility before internal evaluations found that location infeasible due to loss of open space, historic preservation concerns, and land-use conflicts.
HCDA had sought to provide Honolulu Kupuna Shed with short-term warehouse use at nominal rent and separately plans to offer the nonprofit ground-floor space in the future affordable rental complex on the same block. Nakamoto defended the arrangement as a public service benefit to the community, saying it would complement the area, adding that it would “really complement the area and also align with the housing development above it.” But the plan drew pushback, and an HCDA board meeting was canceled because of a faulty email address set up for accepting public testimony.
Board Demands a Fairer Process
In December 2025, the HCDA board approved a recommendation requiring board approval for any leases of five years or more, after previously allowing the executive director to execute long- or short-term leases without that oversight. Board members, including Miki'ala Lidstone, questioned the means of choosing rental tenants for HCDA property, with Lidstone saying a fair and equitable procedure for selecting tenants was important. HCDA has since proposed publicly soliciting interest to lease the warehouse on a short-term basis, and the agency posted a board agenda item on July 29, 2026, for its August 5, 2026 meeting to consider authorizing the executive director to solicit short-term lease proposals from the general public, according to Hawaii Community Development Authority records.
Housing Redevelopment Still Looms
Whatever happens with interim tenants, the warehouse's long-term fate is largely settled. HCDA plans to redevelop the property with affordable housing within the next few years, though the exact timing depends on funding and negotiation of a development agreement. The agency solicited interest from developers in January and selected nonprofit firm EAH Housing to carry out the redevelopment, which is expected to include up to 200 rental apartments.
Block P-2 sits within a larger multi-block HCDA redevelopment corridor in Kakaako Mauka that also includes adjacent Block P, planned for affordable rental housing, and Block P-3, slated for Ko Laila, a 99-year leasehold affordable condo project, according to ONE Pacific Realty. HCDA, created by the Hawaii Legislature in 1976 under Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 206E, owns roughly 9 acres in Kakaako and holds land-use authority over the district that supersedes local county zoning. The agency's broader push toward affordable and leasehold housing has also played out in other Kakaako projects, including HCDA's tough buyer rules for leasehold condos and its review of a taller Mahana Tower proposal from Howard Hughes in Ward Village.
For now, the immediate question is who gets to use the warehouse before the bulldozers eventually arrive. Both F45 Training Ala Moana and Honolulu Kupuna Shed remain in limbo, with HCDA's shift toward an open public process meant to settle, at least for the interim period, which group — or perhaps another applicant entirely — gets the space next.
