A five-story office building that once housed medical suites and trade groups near Ala Moana has reopened as Amana Lofts, a 64-unit income-restricted apartment building at 765 Amana St. Developer JL Capital held a dedication and blessing ceremony for the project in Honolulu, marking the completion of a conversion that began with a groundbreaking and blessing ceremony in May 2025. The building now offers studios, one-bedrooms and two-bedrooms reserved for households earning up to 80% of area median income.
The project, first reported by Aloha State Daily, is more than a standalone housing project. It supplies 64 of the 101 off-site affordable rental units JL Capital committed to build under Honolulu City Council Resolution 23-62 in order to satisfy affordable housing obligations tied to its planned 315-unit market-rate Muse Honolulu tower, according to Locations Hawaii. Honolulu zoning rules allow developers of high-density towers in transit corridors to fulfill required affordable unit counts at off-site locations within the same neighborhood.
From Office Suites to Studio Apartments
City property and trade records show 765 Amana Street functioned for decades as a mid-rise commercial office building, housing professional suites, medical offices and trade groups such as the Pacific Bureau for Lathing & Plastering as early as 1973, according to a document hosted by USModernist. JL Capital acquired the property for close to $9 million in 2019, and CEO Tim Lee said the company intended to convert it into an affordable rental project from the start, per the seed report.
JL Capital retained the building's existing concrete structure while replacing or constructing plumbing, electrical systems, windows, interior walls and finishes, and spent roughly $25 million on the project including the purchase price. Island Structural Contracting served as general contractor and BKF & Associates as project architect. The finished building includes large windows and ceilings higher than 10 feet, along with a secured lobby, elevator, on-site laundry, trash chutes, bike rack and car share.
Unit Mix and Rents
Amana Lofts contains 32 studio units, 20 one-bedroom units and 12 two-bedroom units, ranging from 289 to 561 square feet. Studio rents run from $1,875 to $2,014 per month, one-bedrooms from $1,995 to $2,142, and two-bedrooms from $2,475 to $2,536, excluding electricity, cable and internet. Each unit comes with a refrigerator, range/oven, built-in microwave and garbage disposal, and the building offers limited covered parking for rent.
Applications are being accepted at amanalofts.com and processed on a first-come, first-served basis, with the developer submitting qualified applications in order received to the City and County of Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting. For context on who can qualify, the 2026 80% area median income cap in Honolulu County is $86,240 for a single person, $98,560 for a two-person household, $110,880 for a three-person household and $121,600 for a four-person household, according to The Park on Keeaumoku.
The Regulatory Path That Made It Possible
The conversion leaned on a stack of recent policy changes. In May 2024, Governor Josh Green signed Act 37 (HB 2090), a statewide law requiring Hawaii counties to permit residential uses in commercial zones and facilitate adaptive reuse of office buildings into housing under international building code standards starting January 1, 2025, per FastDemocracy. Honolulu's own Bill 7 incentive program, Ordinance 19-8, sweetens the deal further for fully income-restricted rentals, offering zero minimum off-street parking requirements and up to 2.5 times the maximum allowable density for the lot, according to Hawaii Affordable Properties Inc.
Amana Lofts also sits within the city's designated Ala Moana Transit-Oriented Development Plan area, a high-density corridor meant to align housing growth with transit access, per city planning documents. Lee said Amana Lofts shows creative ways to add housing without always starting from the ground up, adding that existing buildings can be reimagined to address community housing needs, and that the location connects residents to jobs, transportation and daily necessities.
JL Capital's Growing Ala Moana Footprint
Amana Lofts follows JL Capital's $507 million Sky Ala Moana development at 1388 Kapi‘olani Blvd., which combined 390 market-rate condominiums in its West Tower with 84 affordable owner-occupant units and the Renaissance Honolulu Hotel & Spa, and was completed in late 2023. The company's next project, Muse Honolulu, is planned as a 39-story, 315-residence tower at 1538 Kapi‘olani Blvd., with demolition preparation expected to begin in October. JL Capital, founded in 2017, further expanded its Midtown Ala Moana holdings in October 2025 by acquiring three contiguous properties along Kapi‘olani Boulevard for $36 million.
Amana Lofts arrives amid persistent strain on Honolulu's affordable housing pipeline. Department of Planning and Permitting delays have limited Bill 7 completions to just eight projects totaling 229 units by mid-2025, as Hoodline previously reported, prompting state lawmakers to launch the $100 million Hawaii Builds pilot program in 2026 to speed up permitting statewide. Community advocates and labor groups have also questioned whether 80% AMI rent caps remain out of reach for many local service workers, even as off-site arrangements like Amana Lofts help developers clear the units required to advance market-rate towers such as Muse Honolulu.
