Four downtown area properties are being eyed for condemnation by the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation.
The HART board of directors today is expected to review a request for approval to notify the City Council on the rail agency’s intent to acquire three Kakaako properties, due to their proximity to the planned Civic Center Guideway and Stations project.
The Civic Center station, scheduled to open to the public by 2031, is slated for construction near Halekauwila and South streets. The station will serve Kakaako, Makiki, Ward and outlying residential areas, the rail agency states.
A fourth property, on Dillingham Boulevard between Puuhale Road and Mokauea Street in Kalihi, is also being considered for condemnation along that segment of city rail.
“The HART board is currently considering to acquire by eminent domain portions of four properties in this area,” Joey Manahan, HART’s government relations and public involvement director, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser via email Thursday.
The properties in question include:
• 560 Halekauwila St., owned by architecture firm Design Partners Properties No. 5 LLC.
• 609 Keawe St., owned by Bank of Hawaii, trustee for the Katherine McGrew Cooper Trust.
• 576 Halekauwila St., owned by Goodwill Kakaako Center LLC and Big Brothers Big Sisters Hawaii Properties LLC.
• 1956 Dillingham Blvd., owned by Gerald Je Chul Kang and Kloe Sookhee Kang.
On Thursday, Goodwill representatives told the Star-Advertiser the property being sought largely consists of a parking lot at its new executive headquarters in Kakaako.
They stated the parcel, adjacent to 571 Quinn Lane, was co-purchased at the end of 2024 with Big Brothers Big Sisters Hawaii and was intended to have joint use by both nonprofits.
According to a recent Goodwill news release, the two combined properties “provide ample parking and 14,000 square feet of interior space that will serve as offices, classrooms and large multi-purpose rooms for Goodwill Hawaii’s at-risk youth and adults with intellectual disabilities programs and Big Brothers Big Sisters Hawaii’s youth mentoring programs.”
Goodwill Hawaii President and CEO Katy Chen expressed frustration over HART’s potential actions to take her nonprofit organization’s property.
“Goodwill Hawaii recently acquired a new headquarters for its Hawaii operations,” Chen said in a statement to the Star-Advertiser. “HART’s intended condemnation of part of Goodwill’s properties will impact operations and will inconvenience staff during construction and operation of the rail project.”
“Goodwill intends to assure it is fully compensated for its land lost to the rail project and for its damages,” she added.
Gerald Je Chul Kang, a real estate agent and co-owner of the parcel at 1956 Dillingham Blvd., told the Star-Advertiser he also objected to the rail’s proposed condemnation of his property.
“We are going to be at the meeting” in opposition, Kang said, adding he was worried about liability issues related to a property he owns with his wife.
Bank of Hawaii and Design Partners Properties could not be immediately reached for comment.
To deliberate on these proposed eminent domain actions, the board may enter into a closed-door executive session for each of these properties.
In a report to the board, HART staff indicate the agency “requires a fee simple interest in a portion of the subject properties to accommodate the placement of guideway straddle bent columns along Halekauwila Street.”
The amount of just compensation for each property has been determined, according to the 1970 federal law, the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act, the agency’s report states.
“HART provided an offer to acquire a fee simple interest in a portion of each of the properties,” the report reads. “Two of the owners have rejected HART’s offer. The third has not responded to the offer.”
The property owners, according to HART staff, have been given a reasonable time to consider the offers.
“In order to adhere to the CCGS construction schedule, it is necessary to refer the properties to condemnation,” the staff report states.
However, “efforts will be made to continue negotiations with each owner with the goal of reaching an amicable and reasonable settlement,” the report says.
Upon approval of the resolutions, HART will inform the City Council of its intent to acquire each property by eminent domain, the report indicates.
If adopted, the Council has 45 days to approve or object to condemnation by adoption of a resolution of the notification to acquire the properties.
Upon approval or no action by the Council, the HART board will then be requested to approve each resolution authorizing the acquisition of the property by eminent domain, the rail agency report says.
In other HART business, the board is expected to receive a brief update on House Resolution 37, which formally requested HART extend Skyline beyond its station in East Kapolei, to West Oahu.
As drafted, HR 37 contended the rail line “does not adequately serve the growing communities of Nanakuli, Ko Olina, Maili” and other spots along the Waianae Coast. But Manahan confirmed that the measure — co-introduced by Rep. Darius Kila (D, Nanakuli-Maili) — failed to receive legislative support in 2025.
“HR37 is a non-binding resolution that was not adopted by the full House of Representatives, and is ‘dead’ for the session,” he explained.
The HART board meeting is set to begin at 9:30 a.m. at Alii Place, 1099 Alakea St., Suite 150.