Hawaii Business Magazine September 2022

C O N F LI C T S B E T W E E N L A N D LO R D S & R E NTE R S P. 42

C O N D O M A I NTE N A N C E , N OT C O N D O C O LL A P S E P. 60

R A N K I N G M O S T PRO F ITA B LE C O M PA N I E S I N H AWA I ‘ I P. 69

L O C A L LY O W N E D , L O C A L LY C O M M I T T E D SINCE 1955

Amefil “Amy” Agbayani

Sages

OVER 7O

Five Exceptional Kūpuna Who Continue to Serve Hawai‘i and Its People P. 30

HAWAIIBUSINESS.COM

Future planned Victoria Ward Park

A Neighborhood That’s Yours to Discover At Ward Village, tree-lined streets and shaded pathways lead to an exciting mix of one-of-a-kind boutique shopping, local eateries and a variety of entertainment to enjoy. Whatever your interests, you’ll find old favorites and new discoveries in one vibrant neighborhood.

wardvillagehonolulu.com

A Howard Hughes Master Planned Community

Lek Friel POSITION: Manager, Business Continuity - Operations LOCATION: Honolulu, Hawaii DATE HIRED: March 17, 1986 NOTES: Broad experience in diverse roles for the Pacific Operations group. Started as Stevedore Superintendent in 1986. Held position as Vessel Planning Manager from 2016-2022. Serves as Matson’s representative on the Hawaii Harbor Users Group. Bikes for good causes. Logged over 1,000 miles in numerous charity events in Honolulu, Napa Valley, and Salt Lake City.

Matson’s people are more than Hawaii shipping experts. They are part of what makes our community unique. Visit Matson.com

S PEC I A L PR O M OT I O N A L S ECT I O N ‘ AI N A PA U A H I : B U I L D I N G A R E S I L I E N T W O R K F O R C E F O R H AWA I ‘ I

Growing 'Oiwi Leaders TO E N H A N C E T H E W E L L- B E I N G O F T H E G R E AT E R C O M M U N I T Y, Kamehameha Schools is committed to developing resilient workforces that keep families in Hawai‘i through pathways that provide sustainable occupations.

Our keiki are the workforce of tomorrow, and Kamehameha Schools is developing and nurturing the ‘Ōiwi leaders needed to create the resiliency for Hawai‘i’s economy. According to a 2013 Carnevale, A., Smith, N., & Strohl, J. workforce projection, 35% of Hawai‘i jobs require a bachelor’s degree or higher, and more than 60% are attainable via an industry-recognized credential, postsecondary certificate, or associate degree.

“KS has a unique opportunity to restore and enhance resilient communities through the development of collaborations across educational pathways, funders, and industry partners,” says Nālani Blane Kealaiki, Community Strategist. “We look at resilient workforce from a community standpoint of our kuleana through education, culture, and ‘āina stewardship.”

By increasing the quality and accessibility of its pathways, KS supports our keiki and ‘ohana through financial literacy curriculum, development of advanced College and Career counseling/coaching, and providing career networks, workshops, and internships.

KS supporting partners and programs include: The Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, Hawaiian Trades Academy, Alu Like’s Hana Lima Scholarship Program, Healthcare Association of Hawaii, American Heart Association, Hawai‘i Pacific Health’s Summer Internship Program, Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, Purple Mai‘a, KUPU, Huliauapa‘a’s Wahi Kūpuna Internship Programs, Kāpili ‘Oihana, ClimbHI, Hawai‘i Investment Ready, and Hawai‘i FoundHer Accelerator Program. They all reinvest to support career readiness that leads toward sustainable quality of life “As stewards of Ke Ali‘i Bernice Pauahi Pākī Bishop’s land legacy, we reinvest in properties, our tenants, and our keiki to ensure the vibrancy of the communities where kama‘āina have the opportunity to live, work, and thrive,” says Kealaiki.

“Kamehameha Schools is committed to engaging communities to educate and empower 'o-iwi leaders to build resilient communities.”

- N A L A N I B L A N E K E A L A I K I , C O M M U N I T Y S T R AT E G I S T

S PEC I A L PR O M OT I O N A L S ECT I O N

KAMEHAMEHA SCHOOLS

Kamehameha Schools is committed to helping its students achieve career readiness through its educational programs.

Three Key Takeaways • 40% of Native

Hawaiians describe their current job as fulfilling their desire to contribute to their community.

• 84% of currently

employed Native Hawaiians are satisfied with their current job or career.

• Nearly half of Native

Hawaiians thought about moving from Hawai'i. Main reasons include a lower cost of living elsewhere, potential increase in earnings, or to take a new job or advance their careers.

Source: ‘Imi Pono Hawai‘i Wellbeing Survey 2022

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09.22

FEATURES The terrifying Florida condo collapse is unlikely to be replicated here, but there are local lessons to be learned from the tragedy.

30

Sages Over 70: 5 Kūpuna Who Continue to Serve Profiles of the remarkable careers of Amy Agbayani, Robbie Alm, Tom Coffman, Walter Kirimitsu and Francis S. Oda.

8

SEPTEMBER 2022

42

Home for Sale Can Mean Renters are Displaced Two-part report examines when the wants and needs of tenants and landlords conflict, with perspectives from both sides.

60

Could a Local Condo Fall Like the One in Florida?

Local construction experts say no, but they advise condo boards: Don’t put off maintenance or you will pay a steep price.

66

Smart Succession Plan: Make Workers the Boss It’s called an ESOP and the perks include tax deductions for companies plus retirement benefits for employees.

69

Ranking Most Profitable Companies in Hawai‘i Powered by lucrative routes to China, Matson leads the list of surpluses and deficits for local companies and nonprofits.

PH OTO BY A A R O N YO S H I N O

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09.22

CONTENTS

16

PHOTO: AARON YOSHINO

My Job Zachary Villanueva loves ice cream so much that he started Sage Creamery, which uses local ingredients to create its many flavors.

Lab Helps You Understand Huge Amounts of Data LAVA visually depicts complex information to help deal with topics like tourism, climate change, the structure of the brain and more.

18

UH Mānoa’s Student Paper Celebrates 100th Anniversary Ka Leo O Hawai‘i was founded by a blind student. Alumni include a U.S. senator, congressman, head of the East-West Center and many journalists.

22

How to Spot Critical Issues Before They Hurt the Business Peter Adler’s five techniques detect problems before it’s too late. No. 3: “root cause analysis,” which dives deep to identify specific strategies.

26

In Sports, Mental Health Now Valued Like Physical Health Four UH athletes from women’s basketball and soccer, and men’s football and basketball talk about challenges and coping techniques.

20

What’s Next for Hawaii State Federal Credit Union CEO Andrew Rosen talks about new branches and the new headquarters, plus enhanced ATMs and a commitment to financial literacy.

24

The Rich and Famous Love Hawai‘i’s Neighbor Islands Those with homes there include Jeff Bezos, Oprah Winfrey, Mark Zuckerberg, Jason Momoa, Matthew McConaughey and Willie Nelson.

58

SPECI A L A DV ERTI SI NG SECTI ON S Construction Outlook Insight on Hawai‘i’s construction industry in 2022 and beyond.

53 AIA’s Annual Awards Recognizing architectural design excellence in Hawai‘i.

73

O N T H E C OV E R

Photo by Aaron Yoshino HAWAII BUSINESS (ISSN 0440-5056) IS PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY PACIFICBASIN COMMUNICATIONS. ©2022 PACIFICBASIN COMMUNICATIONS, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ANY UNAUTHORIZED COPYING, DISTRIBUTION, OR ADAPTATION IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED AND WILL RESULT IN LIABILITY OF UP TO $100,000. EDITORIAL, ADVERTISING AND BUSINESS OFFICES AT 1088 BISHOP STREET, SUITE LL2, HONOLULU, HI 96813. TELEPHONE (808) 534-7520. POSTMASTER: SEND ALL ADDRESS CHANGES TO HAWAII BUSINESS, P.O. BOX 913, HONOLULU, HI 96808. SUBSCRIBERS NOTIFY THE SAME OFFICE. PLEASE INCLUDE NEW ADDRESS AND OLD ADDRESS (MAILING LABEL PREFERRED) PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT HONOLULU, HAWAI‘I, AND AT ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICES. SUBSCRIPTION: ONE YEAR $24.99 / TWO YEARS $34.99 / THREE YEARS $44.99. FOREIGN: ONE YEAR $53.99 (US FUNDS). FOR SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES, ADDITIONAL RATES, INFORMATION, NOTIFICATION OF CHANGE OF ADDRESS AND SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE, PLEASE CALL (800) 788-4230. AUGUST 2022 VOL. 68/NO.3

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SEPTEMBER 2022

F R O M

A N

T H E

O P E N

E D I T O R

M IN D

The Best Tool to Do Your Most Important Job

A

MANAGER’S SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT JOB is to hire good

people, because even the best of us can only do so much. Good people not only perform a job well, but they fill in our gaps in expertise, knowledge and perspective.

As the smartest man of the 20th century, Albert Einstein, said: “The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know.”

If a manager’s most important job is hiring good people, the second-most important job must be retaining them – which is even more challenging, especially in this hyper-evolving world where we all want better balance and more meaning in our lives.

Retaining your team is not something you can cross off your to-do list and move on to something else. It is based on everything that happens in the workplace all the time – each action, word said and email written, all the decisions made and not made, the culture that we think exists and the one that each individual employee actually perceives and responds to.

No one gets it all right, but many successful local companies depend on the annual Best Places to Work program. It is the best tool available to help you create a workplace that retains your top people.

Hawaii Business Magazine will be taking the survey again this year and studying its results. Reading what employees say is encouraging when it’s positive and hard to bear when it’s not. But that’s the medicine we must take if we want to keep our employees engaged.

Register at bestplacestoworkhawaii.com now; participation is free.

CRUCIAL RECRUITING TOOL

Peter Burke, CEO of the Workforce Research Group, has been our partner in the Best Places to Work program for 18 years. He and his team are nationwide experts in detecting which workplaces have it right and how companies that fall short can improve their game.

“Organizations participate in the Best Places to Work in Hawai‘i for two main reasons. One, if you make this wellknown list, it has a massive impact on your brand as an employer,” he says. “Your presence on the list makes you the better choice when potential candidates are considering you as an employer. That’s a huge factor in hiring.”

Burke says the second reason that organizations register for the Best Places program may be even more important.

“It gives you access to the employee survey results, which are available for a small fee. You learn what your employees are thinking and feeling. That’s an invaluable management tool regardless of whether you make the Best Places to Work list or not.”

In fact, Burke says, those employee responses are “the vital information you need to turn your ordinary workplace into a Best Place to Work – if you are willing to act on what you learn.”

Many companies participate in the survey every year, including ones that routinely make it onto the list. They know that feedback can change, and they use the survey to guide them on what to keep doing and what needs to change.

Register at bestplacestoworkhawaii.com. The deadline is Oct. 21. Email me at stevep@hawaiibusiness.com if you have questions.

HONEST ANSWERS FROM EMPLOYEES

The key element in the Best Places to Work program is the confidential survey of your employees. Because their identity is concealed from you, these employees are more likely to respond honestly to the survey’s questions.

Positive responses indicate you are on the right track in that particular question’s area. Negative answers and complaints are hard to take, but they tell you where you have fallen short. These complaints are like radar: They may give you time to fix problems before your employees become less engaged and less productive in their work, or before they get so frustrated they quit.

12

SEPTEMBER 2022

STEVE PETRANIK EDITOR

P R E S E N T E D BY

Join host Unyong Nakata as she talks with some of Hawai‘i’s most influential business and community leaders.

HO STED BY :

Unyong Nakata, Nakata Advisory, LLC

SP E CI AL G U E ST S I N C LU D E :

Dave Moss Hawaii Symphony Orchestra

Mark Fukunaga Servco Pacific Inc.

LISTEN NOW AVA I LA BLE E V E RY OT HE R T HU R S DAY O N TH ESE PO D CA ST PL AT FO R M S : Locally Owned, Locally Committed

Chris Benjamin Alexander & Baldwin

HB EVENTS CONNECT WITH HAWAII BUSINESS MAGAZINE L O C A L LY OW N E D , L O C A L LY C O M M I T T E D SINCE 1955.

Our goal is to strengthen the local economy and help our communities thrive.

Publisher CHERYL ONCEA cherylo@hawaiibusiness.com Editorial Editor STEVE PETRANIK stevep@hawaiibusiness.com • (808) 534−7584 Managing Editor CYNTHIA WESSENDORF cynthiaw@hawaiibusiness.com • (808) 534−7529 Staff Writer & Engagement Editor NOELLE FUJII-ORIDE

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 | 8:30 – 11:00 A.M.

Elizabeth Fuller Hall, YWCA Laniākea Investment purchases in Hawai‘i’s commercial real estate market during 2021 exceeded pre-pandemic levels with $3.15 billion in sales volume, according to Colliers Hawaii’s year end investment report. This event will explore what is on the horizon for commercial real estate in Hawai‘i and its impact on our community.

For more information on tickets, visit needtoknow.hawaiibusiness.com

UPCOMING EVENTS: WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26-27, 2022

Wahine Forum Hilton Hawaiian Village

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2022

Need to Know: Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance Elizabeth Fuller Hall, YWCA Laniākea

For more information on our signature events, visit hawaiibusiness. com/events or contact Loren Doctolero, Director of Events, at lorend@ hawaiibusiness.com.

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SEPTEMBER 2022

Connect with us on social media: HawaiiBusiness HawaiiBusinessmagazine

Hawaii Business is published by

President SCOTT SCHUMAKER scotts@pacificbasin.net • (808) 534−7541 Audience Development Director CHUCK TINDLE chuckt@pacificbasin.net • (808) 534−7521

Chairman and CEO DUANE KURISU President and COO SUSAN EICHOR CFO & Chief Administration Officer KEN MIYASATO Chief Revenue Officer PATRICK KLEIN PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Need to Know: Commercial Real Estate

noellef@hawaiibusiness.com Staff Writer CHAVONNIE RAMOS chavonnier@hawaiibusiness.com Copy Editor ELROY GARCIA Intern NICHOLE WHITELEY Design Creative Director KELSEY IGE kelseyi@hawaiibusiness.com • (808) 534−7179 Art Director MALLORY ADAMS-NAKAMURA malloryan@hawaiibusiness.com Digital Digital Marketing Director JOELLE CABASA joellec@hawaiibusiness.com • (808) 534−7531 Photography Staff Photographer AARON YOSHINO Sales & Marketing Associate Publisher KENT COULES kentc@hawaiibusiness.com • (808) 364−5869 Account Executive KELLIE MOE kelliem@hawaiibusiness.com • (808) 364−5897 Account Executive MEA ALOHA SPADY meaalohas@hawaiibusiness.com • (808) 364−6126 Advertising Project Manager MICHELLE OKADA michelleo@hawaiibusiness.com • (808) 534−7560 Events Director LOREN DOCTOLERO lorend@hawaiibusiness.com • (808) 534−7578 Circulation Circulation Manager KIM KOKI kimk@pacificbasin.net • (808) 534−7590

T HAWAI ‘I’ S LA RG ESD LE AD ER SH IP AN ENT PM CA RE ER DE VE LO FO R CO NFER EN CE WOM EN

2022

Octo 26-27 ber , 202 2

PRESENTED BY

THE WAHINE FORUM IS BACK IN-PERSON! Join us for a special kick off event on Wednesday, October 26, followed by a full day conference at the Hilton Hawaiian Village on Thursday, October 27.

Hawai‘i’s top female executives, entrepreneurs, up-and-coming leaders, and young professionals come together for the state’s largest professional development conference to learn, connect, and build community.

Real women will share real advice on how to find personal and professional resilience during valuable skill-building and inspirational sessions.

F E AT U R E D K E Y N O T E S P E A K E R : Sarah Phelps is passionate about creating one-of-a-kind and life-changing customer experiences. Sarah is currently developing out-of-this-world experiences as the Director of Astronaut and Customer Experience for Blue Origin, a spaceflight company located in Kent, Washington. Prior to Blue Origin, Sarah was the Director of Member Services for Yellowstone Club, a private ski and golf resort in Big Sky, Montana. With additional experience in education, non-profits, and all-inclusive resorts, Sarah brings a wide breadth of knowledge with a focus on experiential and transformational travel.

Blue Origin was founded with a vision of millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. The company’s engines are powering the next generation of rockets for commercial, civil, national security and human spaceflight.

SCHEDULE:

Wednesday, October 26 Kick Off Event Thursday, October 28 Full Day Conference • 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.

Registration, Networking, Continental Breakfast • 8:30 a.m. to 9:45 a.m.

Opening General Session • 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Morning I Breakout Sessions • 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

Morning II Breakout Sessions • 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Lunch & Networking • 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Afternoon Breakout Sessions • 2:45 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Closing General Session After two years of hosting the Forum virtually, we are thrilled to convene together face-to-face for this important annual conference that celebrates and uplifts Hawai‘i’s mana wahine.

J O I N U S FO R I N S P I R AT I O N , C O N N E C T I O N , R E J U V E N AT I O N , A N D E M P OW E R M E N T !

FO R M O R E I N FO R M AT I O N , V I S I T H AWA I I B U S I N E S S .C O M/ WA H I N E 2 0 2 2

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SEPTEMBER 2022

M Y

NAME: ZACHARY VILLANUEVA

AGE:

JOB:

32

ICE CREAM MAKER AND CO-FOUNDER OF SAGE CREAMERY

J O B

Ice Cream Maker Brings Happiness in Every Scoop

BY S H AWN A TAK AK I

BEGINNINGS: “Growing up, my dad and my mom would always make sure we had dessert in the fridge. A tub of ice cream was one of them.”

His passion for ice cream continued beyond childhood and he began to make it at home in 2016 for family and friends. He thought it was a lot better than what was sold in stores.

even tea, we’ll work with other vendors here in Hawai‘i and collaborate with them to make flavors. Our vanilla we get from Laie Vanilla Co. Our coffee is from Kailua at ChadLou’s Coffee Roasters and our honey is from Mānoa Honey & Mead.

Our focus is on the ingredients and highlighting them through ice cream.”

COMPANY’S ORIGIN: “The idea for

HOW IT’S MADE: “Our ice cream base is a mixture of milk, cream, sugar and egg yolks. We purée fruit or sometimes we steep lavender flowers or vanilla beans for a few days and let those flavors coalesce into the ice cream. Sometimes we’ll also do inclusions – the things that you add to your ice cream after it’s churned.”

Sage Creamery started after my brother had passed away in 2018.

He had cancer and it was really abrupt: Four months after the diagnosis, he passed.”

Villanueva created the business in his brother’s honor. His brother’s name was Daniel, but he was wise beyond his years, so people called him “Sage.”

Zachary Villanueva had been working full time at Kō Hana Distillers but the pandemic gave him more time to make ice cream and he eventually made the company his full-time job.

INGREDIENTS: “Things like vanilla, chocolate, coffee, honey,

PH OTO BY A A R O N YO S H I N O

FLAVORS: Ice cream flavors are

mainly chosen based on the time of the year and what Villanueva and his co-workers like to eat.

“My favorite flavor is vanilla ice cream and being able to source it locally from the North Shore is a plus for us.”

They also pay attention to other businesses and their successes. Their mango cheesecake ice cream was inspired by the popular mango cheesecake dessert at Diamond Head Market & Grill, Villanueva’s wife’s family business and where the couple previously worked.

“Our most recent collaboration was with Holey Grail Donuts, popular for their maple glaze doughnuts. So we made vanilla maple ice cream.”

GROWTH: “When we started, we were making ice cream in our garage, then we grew and eventually moved into our own commercial kitchen.”

The company now sells at farmers markets across O‘ahu.

Coming soon are a shop in Ho‘opili and an ice cream truck.

MOTIVATION: “At the end of the day, it’s ice cream. We’re in the job of making people happy. If they’re happy, then we’re happy.”

THIS INTERVIEW HAS BEEN EDITED FOR CL ARITY AND CONCISENESS.

H AWA I I B U S I N ES S

17

L AVA

Overwhelmed by Data?

LAVA Helps You Make Sense of It The lab at UH Mānoa works on visualizing complex information to help deal with issues like tourism, climate change, the structure of the brain and much more.

BY RYA N N COU LE S

U

H MĀNOA IS BECOMING A LEADER IN DATA VISUAL IZATION, virtual reality, and

artificial intelligence thanks to Jason Leigh and LAVA, the Laboratory for Advanced Visualization & Applications.

Leigh was formerly a professor and director of the Electronic Visualization Laboratory at the University of Illinois Chicago. In 2012, UH asked him to start a laboratory specializing in data analytics – that is interpreting, analyzing and communicating data – and computer graphics.

“Hawai‘i didn’t really have any kind of presence on the world stage for data visualization, virtual reality, game design, things like that. And so that was really the genesis of it, just unpacking a need for such a capability,” Leigh says.

LAVA’s goal is to help solve problems by providing scientists, policymakers and the public with data in visual and graphic ways that make the information easier to understand. A better understanding of the data, Leigh says, might help everyone make better decisions.

they say, ‘What’s a way to convey this data in a way that scientists can understand the data but also the general public can understand?’ … What are the tradeoffs that you have to make? So it’s always a mixture of that pure science and the need for a problem to be solved.”

He says that when the team at LAVA analyzes a problem, they consider all its facets to determine the best possible solution. Team members may look at tourism and ask what tourists in Hawai‘i like most, so they can help businesses

serve customers better. They may also consider tourism’s impact on the Islands to understand how to reduce any damage.

NATIONAL AWARDS

Several LAVA projects have won awards.

Graduate students Alberto González Martínez, Troy Wooton, Nurit Kirshenbaum and Dylan Kobayashi – and Leigh, their mentor – won Best Paper in Trending Now–Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence for their work on Zexplorer, a human-moderated AI that analyzes research publications. Their award was received at the 2020 Practice & Experience in Advanced Research Computing conference.

At a 2022 national competition, three LAVA graduate students – Michael Rogers, Roderick Tabalba and Yoshiki Takagi – won with their submission of CyberCOP (Common Operating Picture), an application that uses virtual reality to help operators visualize satellite orbits and ward off cyberattacks.

One of LAVA’s biggest assets is the Destiny CyberCANOE at UH Mānoa, an extremely high-resolution hybrid reality

LAVA’s projects vary: In May, the National Science Foundation awarded a five-year $20 million grant to Change HI, a collaboration between LAVA and other research teams on eight data and climate science-focused projects.

“We work a lot with research scientists who are trying to, for example, solve climate change, or trying to figure out how we can help Hawai‘i reach 100% renewable (energy) by 2045,” Leigh says.

“They usually come to us with data and 18

SEPTEMBER 2022

SageRDI was developed to monitor crises on large displays, making it easier to interpret data.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF JASON LEIGH

WORK ON CLIMATE SCIENCE

L AVA

visualization system. This research tool, funded by the National Science Foundation and the UH Academy for Creative Media, allows users to visualize big data in an immersive, 3D environment.

The Destiny CyberCANOE, Leigh explains, consists of a space the size of a large school classroom equipped with touch-enabled display walls that allow you to see “really exquisite three-dimensional images that are created by the computer,” simply by putting on lightweight 3D glasses like those handed out at movie theaters.

The high resolution comes from 256 million pixels on the screen, far more than anything previously developed.

The OLED display technology – organic light-emitting diodes – was exclusive to Destiny CyberCANOE when it was created in 2016.

“So it was pretty much the best version of surround screen virtual reality that anyone had ever produced at the time,” says Leigh.

SEEING IN AN IMMERSIVE WAY

A video from LAVA’s website demonstrates how this technology has proven helpful to professionals in a variety of fields. A psychiatrist, for example, can use it to better understand brain scans by seeing the structure of the brain in an immersive, up-close way. Environmental scientists may use it to better visualize the data they’ve collected on remote problems like ice melt in the Arctic.

A few of LAVA’s projects have a connection to Polynesian culture, such as its free, online Sāmoan/English Dictionary, which makes translating easier and more accessible. They also created Kilo Hoku VR, a virtual reality simulation of sailing on the Hōkūle‘a that helps users understand the application of astronomy in Hawaiian wayfinding.

The LAVA logo draws inspiration from data visualization iconography and Polynesian tattoo art and includes a wave design. In both data visualization and Polynesian tattoos, the goal is storytelling.

Leigh says the laboratory has hired about 50 students who have been awarded grants from the National Science Foundation and other sponsors such as the U.S. Department of Energy, the military, NSA, Oceanit, Hawaiian Electric and the Hawai‘i State Energy Office.

Learn more at lavaflow.info.

First Time Commercial Property Developer or Investor? Consider this.

W

ITH THE HI G H VALU E O F RE AL E S TATE IN HAWAII ,

there is always interest among property owners or investors to consider commercial development.

Perhaps they own undeveloped or under-developed land they would like to see generate an income stream.

Or they’d like to redevelop existing buildings to create a higher return. Or they may have liquid assets they want to invest.

“There are many good reasons to consider commercial real estate development,” says Catherine Camp, CPB’s Executive Vice President, Real Estate. “But for first-time developers or investors, there are some important issues to consider.”

Do your goals match your sensibilities?

It starts with understanding what you are looking to accomplish. Do you want to be an active developer? Are you ambitious enough to redevelop a property? In doing so, what are the risks you will face? Do you understand the entitlement process? Infrastructure requirements? Permitting? These things can impact your budget which can impact your ultimate return. Or perhaps you want to be a passive investor and collect a return on your property, like providing a ground lease to a business and collecting rent or a percentage of sales. These are all valid options, but your goals need to fit your personality, experience, and risk tolerance.

What are important concerns firsttimers sometimes overlook?

A frequent issue is underestimating how long things take in Hawaii, including permits, building supplies, equipment, and possibly additional entitlements

(approvals in special districts, shoreline management, or a change in zoning).

And time is literally money, especially as costs escalate. Another is the entire team of collaborators it takes for you to be successful – planners, engineers, architects, contractors, attorneys and more. And, of course, your banker.

Because it's not just about getting a loan at a particular rate or term. That's just one piece.

“We want to make sure our customers can fulfill their vision,” says Camp. “We help them navigate the potholes we know will be encountered along the way, especially if it's one of their first projects…and even if they are more sophisticated.”

To learn more about CPB’s commercial real estate services, visit cpb.bank/ commercial-real-estate, or call (808) 544-3556.

“CPB is unique and we don’t work in typical ways. We pool our knowledge to help problem-solve every aspect of a project.”

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Member FDIC

H AWA I I B U S I N ES S

19

M E N TA L

H E A LT H

For Many, Mental Health of StudentAthletes Valued as Much as Physical Health Four UH athletes from women’s basketball and soccer, and men’s football and basketball talk about their challenges and coping techniques

BY LU K E LAW H OR N

classes and completing homework, studying for tests and working part-time jobs – often while living away from home for the first time.

On top of all that, collegiate student-athletes must also balance practices, workouts, treatments and competitions. Some cope well with those many demands; others end up mentally drained.

We interviewed four student-athletes at UH Mānoa to learn the challenges they face and their coping mechanisms: sophomore women’s basketball player Kelsie Imai and three seniors, Zion Bowens (football), Lauren Marquez (women’s soccer) and Kamaka Hepa (men’s basketball).

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SEPTEMBER 2022

Wide receiver Bowens says his teammates are like family and that they support each other. “One thing that helps me whenever I become overwhelmed with being a student-athlete is simply talking to my teammates about it. Most times, if I am being overwhelmed, they are too, and it’s just nice to know that we are all in the same boat together,” says Bowens, who comes to UH from Long Beach, California.

Imai, a graduate of Waiākea High School in Hilo, says her teammates are sensitive to each other’s needs. “Our

team gets along really well, and we all know each other’s limits, so if we ever feel like we’re getting overwhelmed in some way, we know when to give additional space,” he says.

The UH athletics program makes a big effort to create an environment that feels like family. Hepa, who is Native Hawaiian but was born in Alaska and played at the University of Texas before coming to UH, is working on a graduate degree in finance. He talks about the connections he has built in Mānoa.

“On days when I feel alone, I work

PHOTOS: COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I ATHLETICS

C

OLLEGE LIFE IS DEMANDING FOR EVERYONE: attending

M E N TA L

on constantly reminding myself of the family I’ve made here at UH,” he says.

“Through all the hours spent perfecting our craft individually and as a team, I know that I can count on my brothers, whom I call teammates, and my mentors I call coaches, to be there for me any time of the day.”

These student-athletes also understand the value in occasionally escaping to do something different; not surprisingly, that something different is often athletic.

“When I become overwhelmed, I like to surf or do yoga,” says Marquez, who comes from Glendale, Arizona, and plays

goalkeeper on the women’s soccer team.

“With Covid ending one of my seasons and not allowing us to train, I had to find other ways to challenge myself. ... I started yoga about a year ago, and it’s a quiet place for me to check in with my body, especially after training 20 hours a week.”

Bowens’ change of pace may not be surprising considering he is from Southern California: “If I want to escape, I’ll try roller skating at Ala Moana Beach Park.”

High school sports can be intense.

In college, the stakes are even higher: Athletes want to take their performance

H E A LT H

to the next level, and making the team is just the start. Afterward there is the battle for playing time, playoff preparations and keeping up with workouts even in the offseason, all while striving to avoid injury.

Their college’s sports program arranges a student’s entire schedule around practice hours, travel days and game days. The most driven athletes add treatments, extra workouts and additional study time.

Their coaches and sports advisors are often former collegiate athletes themselves, so they understand the stresses and multiple demands. For instance, Imai says Rainbow Wahine basketball coach Laura Beeman, who played college basketball in California, designates study hall times for her players and the trainers are flexible about making time for her and her teammates’ treatments.

“Coach Beeman is also big on mental health and will do anything and everything to ensure our heads are in the right place.”

Marquez says the soccer team’s coaches check in with players often and know when the athletes are “off.”

The soccer team also has a leadership committee, composed of team captains and a nominated player from each class. Marquez says they’re “great people to reach out to when you feel alone or have an issue you want to talk about.”

Student-athletes are driven to succeed, but that drive can also lead to overtraining and injury. These student-athletes have spent years devoted to their sports and when they can’t play, they can become depressed and lose their motivation and passion for the sport.

Other student-athletes go the other route, immersing themselves in their sports to the point that other important parts of their lives are pushed aside.

That appears to be most common among the best athletes – the elite 2% who may have a path to the pros and can risk letting everything else slide. Meanwhile, everyone else has classes to pass and career paths to figure out.

Thankfully, past attitudes that just focused on physical performance and physical health are gone. Now just about everyone understands the importance of mental health and its connection to success, on and off the field.

H AWA I I B U S I N ES S

21

Ka Leo, UH Mānoa’s Student Newspaper, Reaches a Century

BY S HAW N A TA KA KI

22

SEPTEMBER 2022

T

HIS YEAR’S SEPTEMBER IS SUE of Ka Leo O Hawai‘i marks

the 100th year of continuous publication for the student newspaper at UH Mānoa.

“I’m grateful that a program that has given so much to its student participants and its university community is still around and continuing to serve,” says Jay Hartwell, a former Ka Leo advisor.

After its founding in 1907, UH had few students and no student newspaper. Henry Bindt, a UH junior, created the first edition of the newspaper over the course of one summer in 1922, says Hartwell.

Bindt, who had been blind since he was 11, would get to campus from Pearl City using three different trolley lines and would often complete assignments after his brother and father read them to him.

He spent months writing and designing the first edition of the campus newspaper, which was published on Sept.

13, 1922. The next year, other students joined what was then called The Hawaii Mirror, which would evolve into Ka Leo O Hawai‘i, meaning the Voice of Hawai‘i.

A print edition continues to be published occasionally, but the paper’s main outlet today is its website, manoanow. org/kaleo, which includes both current stories and many from the archives of the printed paper. Amanda Dick is this year’s editor in chief.

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI

Many Ka Leo staffers have gone on to become professional reporters, editors, photographers and designers at journalism outlets in Hawai‘i and on the mainland. Two current Hawaii Business Magazine staff writers, Noelle Fujii-Oride

K A

and Chavonnie Ramos, both served as editor in chief at Ka Leo. Other editors in chief included Hiram L. Fong, who served as a U.S. senator from Hawai‘i from 1959 to 1977, and Mark Takai, who was elected to Hawai‘i’s District 1 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2014 and served until his death from cancer in July 2016.

Suzanne Vares-Lum, president of the East-West Center, worked on Ka Leo, as did journalists and former journalists Jerry Burris, Beverly Creamer, Robbie Dingeman, John Griffin, Wayne Harada, Daryl Huff, Bill Kwon, Dan Meisenzahl, Ryan Ozawa, Gordon Pang, Dave Reardon and Catherine Toth Fox. “Students learn how to interview sources on deadlines, verify information and then package the content in ways that people want to read,” Hartwell says.

“They learn from experiences that are hard to create in a classroom.”

“The more challenges students encounter, the better journalists and citizens they become.”

The paper has been at the center of many high-profile news stories over

PH OTO S BY A A R O N YO S H I N O

“The devotion of the students keeps Ka Leo alive.”

—Jay Hartwell Former advisor, Ka Leo O Hawaiʻ‘i

the decades. In 1990, Ka Leo published a letter from Joey Carter, a Caucasian student who disliked being called haole.

He said the word signaled racism against white people by Native Hawaiians.

Haunani-Kay Trask, who was a professor and a founding director of UH Mānoa’s Center for Hawaiian Studies, replied in a Ka Leo commentary.

“The hatred and fear people of color have of white people is based” on an ugly history of white power and supremacy, she wrote. “It is for self-protection and in self-defense that we people of color feel hostility towards haoles.”

A fiery debate ensued on campus, with Trask being criticized for allegedly abus-

L E O

ing her faculty position by lashing out at a student, while her supporters said she was simply asserting her free speech rights.

Takai served as both editor in chief of Ka Leo and president of the Associated Students of the University of Hawai‘i in different school years.

During his time as editor in chief, Takai wrote a story that named two professors who he said had been found to have violated the university sexual harassment policy. The university did not name the professors and the report caused a big stir on campus.

Michael Tsai, now a reporter for Spectrum News Hawaii, worked at Ka Leo with Takai in 1991 and says, “Our intention was to assert our campus community’s right to know about serious disciplinary cases involving public employees.”

WRITTEN BY AND FOR STUDENTS

During its heyday, Ka Leo published three times a week with an on-campus printing press, but the frequency of print editions declined over the years and stopped entirely during part of the pandemic. Ka Leo plans to publish print editions twice a month starting with the Fall 2022 semester, with stories published more frequently at manoanow.org/kaleo.

Advertising and a portion of student fees cover Ka Leo’s expenses.

Spencer Oshita, a former editor in chief and head of planning for the Ka Leo anniversary, says ideas are being considered for an anniversary banquet and an alumni-sourced issue of Ka Leo. Although Ka Leo has seen many changes over the years, Hartwell says, “The one thing that has stayed the same is that it’s been led by students and written for students.”

H AWA I I B U S I N ES S

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W H AT ’ S

N E X T

Rendering of new Hawaii State FCU headquarters

What’s Next for Hawaii State Federal Credit Union CEO and President Andrew Rosen talks about new branches and a new headquarters, plus enhanced ATMs and a commitment to financial literacy

BY ST EV E P E T R A N I K

Much like the rest of the world, we’ve learned a lot over the last two years. People desire flexibility, innovative digital solutions and trustworthy customer service.

Earlier this year, we opened two new branches in Safeway stores in Kapahulu and Hawai‘i Kai. All of our new Safeway branches will feature open layouts incorporating self-service technology for 24

SEPTEMBER 2022

account access plus knowledgeable staff.

Innovation and digital technology are a major focus. We continue to deploy our first-in-market interactive teller machines, which are enhanced ATMs that can provide 90% of the transactions available from our tellers. Members don’t need traditional IDs; these ITMs identify a user through a palm scanner, making access more secure.

ITMs give our branch staff more time to provide financial consultation and help members apply for loans and other products.

We are also enhancing our mobile and online banking technology.

HOW IS WORK GOING ON YOUR HEAD OFFICE?

We are in the final stages of renovating the new headquarters building at 333 Queen St. (at Richards Street), right at the gateway between the downtown business district and many state office buildings.

It will incorporate health and wellness features as well as collaboration spaces and technology innovations, and

PHOTO: COURTESY OF HAWAII STATE FCU

W

HAT ARE HAWAII STATE FCU’S MAJOR PLANS FOR 2022?

W H AT ’ S

the ground floor will be our new flagship branch. We remain committed to providing our employees with a bestin-class workplace at Hawaii State FCU, which has been recognized by Hawaii Business Magazine as one of Hawai‘i’s Best Places to Work for 10 years in a row.

and relief dollars to families in need.

I am also optimistic about how quickly our local economy is recovering from the pandemic and the shutdown of businesses. In the finance industry we feared many residents would struggle to pay loans and other financial obligations. We’ve been pleasantly surprised

N E X T

at how quickly our members have been able to recover from the financial challenges of the pandemic.

PA RT O F A S ER I ES O F I NTERVI E W S WITH C EO S O F K E Y H AWA I ‘ I C O M PA N I ES . TH I S I NTERVI E W H AS B EEN ED ITED FO R LEN GTH A N D C O N C I S EN ES S .

WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FACING YOUR ORGANIZATION AND YOUR INDUSTRY?

Cyberattacks and financial fraud continue to target our community, much of it aimed at our kūpuna. We have invested in additional data security and other measures to protect our members’ money, along with increased education about cybersecurity.

Increasing costs and regulatory pressures are causing a consolidation in the banking and credit union industry.

Ten years ago, Hawai‘i had more than 100 credit unions; now there are 50.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR WORK IN THE BROADER COMMUNITY.

The pandemic dramatically increased the number of local families who are financially vulnerable. In an effort to help families manage their money better and make better financial decisions, we are increasing our commitment to financial literacy this year.

We will continue to offer free financial education seminars and online tools to our members and the broader community. We are also sponsoring Chaminade University’s Economic Education Center for Excellence and their Economics and Personal Finance Literacy Teacher and Professional Development Training Scholarships. This program will train K-12 teachers how to teach personal financial skills.

THERE IS WIDESPREAD PESSIMISM ABOUT THE FUTURE. WHAT GIVES YOU OPTIMISM?

The compassion and dedication of our own employees and the community during the pandemic gives me optimism for the future of Hawai‘i. Our employees worked evenings and weekends to process hundreds of applications for grants for small businesses and Hawai‘i residents. And we had members and employees collaborate to provide food

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25

A DV I C E

F R O M

E X P E R T S

Spotting Critical Issues Before They Become Showstoppers

IN ANCIENT SOOTHSAYERS had

TIMES,

elaborate customs to tell their leaders what lay ahead. They studied tea leaves, read the innards of dissected animals and threw bones to find patterns. Nothing is foolproof, but today we have better tools.

Jack Welch, former chair and CEO of General Electric, famously said, “Change before you have to.” At Guild Consulting, we often see Hawai‘i-based enterprises try to tackle problems too late, but some proven tools can help you get ahead.

1. SWOTS

Often done in a small group or workshop, SWOTs bring together key stakeholders and specialized information

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Technology, covered.

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SEPTEMBER 2022

ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES; PHOTO: COURTESY OF PETER ADLER

B I Z X :

B I Z X :

holders to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. More sophisticated versions require evidence, identify top items in each category, and create actions that will augment the positives and attenuate the negatives.

2. LAGGING AND LEADING INDICATORS

Lagging indicators look through the rearview mirror and graph performance over time. Leading indicators face forward and help illuminate the road ahead. A lagging indicator such as sales to an important demographic or employee retention data can point to past challenges or payoffs. Leading indicators like projected interest rates, fuel costs or anticipated workforce

availability illuminate potential new investments.

3. ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS

Many perceived problems are symptoms of deeper issues.

Root cause analysis dives below the surface to understand causes and effects, and can help businesses discover strategic leverage points that can potentially ameliorate several challenges simultaneously. For instance, knowing cash reserves are low is important but to take corrective action, you have to know if that is due to revenue decline, margin drop, a collections problem or unforeseen expenses. Each of these potential causes may have further explanations. The deeper and more specific the analysis, the more actionable it can become.

4. FUTURE SCANS

The world of business, government and society is full of noise. Identifying key signals in the clamor can help businesses spot potential opportunities and obstacles.

Many companies resist change, but a few discover ways to reformulate old products and create new ones. General Mills, for example, maintained a special cross-disciplinary team to monitor global magazines and newspapers for emerging food-related issues that could affect the marketplace.

A DV I C E

F R O M

E X P E R T S

es. Many successful companies have used scenario planning to examine the financial, social and political ramifications of wild cards and “black swans.”

These tools can enable the self-scrutiny needed for making course corrections when problems loom. The purpose of all strategic and tactical planning is to avoid aimless wandering, set direction and achieve strong alignment among stakeholders.

THIS MONTH’S EXPERT:

5. SCENARIO PLANNING

Scenarios are stories of the future and a way of imagining the implications of possible chang-

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29

Over

By CHRISTINE HITT, CHAVONNIE RAMOS AND NICHOLE WHITELEY Photography by AARON YOSHINO

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SEPTEMBER 2022

Amy Agbayani Robbie Alm Tom Coffman Walter Kirimitsu Francis S. Oda Five kūpuna who continue to serve Hawai‘i after illustrious careers focused on public service

H AWA I I B U S I N ES S

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Francis S. Oda Fused His Architectural and Christian Missions

The former CEO of G70 says he uses architecture to support and sustain the land and the local culture

F

Francis S. Oda’s Christian faith and his leadership at one of Hawai‘i’s biggest architectural and engineering firms are not separate parts of his life. He lives them as one.

“He doesn’t hide that he’s a pastor from the corporate world. He doesn’t hide to the spiritual world that he’s a huge CEO,” says Jocelyn McMahon, pastor of New Life Church, the Chinatown church where Oda was once senior pastor and now is senior pastor emeritus.

“There wasn’t a duality in him. He was one man,” McMahon says.

Oda, now 80, is chairman emeritus of G70 after serving as principal and chairman for 49 years. It was in 1973 that he took the reins at a new, small firm then called Group 70 Lab. Three years later he was a recent convert to Christianity and had begun tithing to his church – donating 10% of his income as set out in the Bible.

On a Monday morning, stuck in traffic on his way to work, Oda’s mind flickered with doubt about the truth of the Bible because the promise of blessings being poured out for tithings had not yet made itself visible to his family.

But he recalls his doubt was allayed by three new thoughts about a coming blessing. “One, it will happen through big projects. Two, we will be prepared to do it.

And three, a specific number that is so much larger than any other project we have done comes to my mind.”

That Friday, G70 received a proposal to build a 720-room oceanfront hotel for Marriott, now the Marriott Maui Ocean Club. “I was so unprepared for it, my mind went blank for a moment, because it was exactly the number God gave me.”

Oda says that same night, God gave him a vision for the hotel.

“He gives me these images of artifacts, Hawaiian artifacts, cultural artifacts – at a time no one

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SEPTEMBER 2022

ever thought of attaching artifacts to the décor of a Hawaiian hotel.”

With every project since, Oda says, God has helped him to connect his designs to the local culture as a way to honor its people and its past.

Among the many projects he has worked over the decades have been the two major hotels on Lāna‘i, the Lodge at Koele and the Manele Bay Hotel; the Hanauma Bay Nature Center; and a planned community in Indonesia called Sentul Eco-City.

Becoming a Pastor Around the same time as the Marriott project came in, Oda was a member of First Assembly of God, which is now New Life Church. When the senior pastor died, Oda says he felt called by God to take over the church, but that could mean giving up his work at G70.

“So I prayed and fasted for two weeks,” he says. “I was waiting for a kind of word from God saying, ‘Yes, you leave G70 and you take over the church.’ But that’s not the call I got. It was, ‘Follow Paul’s model.’ ” In the Bible, Paul was called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ while staying a tentmaker to provide for his and others’ needs. “I said, ‘OK, well, if I’m to follow that model, that means I continue to work at G70 and I become pastor of a church.’ ” Pioneering Marketplace Ministry Oda persisted in these two roles despite some criticism and became a “pioneer” of marketplace ministry, says McMahon.

That means ministering to the community, not just the congregation. “Most of the people around you are not Christians, but everybody needs God,” Oda says.

In one example of marketplace ministry, New Life Church ministers to men and women in local prisons and jails, whether they are Christians or

not. The church has been involved in the revitalization of Chinatown for several decades and helping the homeless find jobs and homes, Oda says.

The Value of Family Oda says that when he merged his secular and religious lives, he noticed that the values he and his partners had created for G70 aligned with his Christian values.

One value they all share at the firm is the importance of family.

“We might be very successful.

We might be very profitable. We

might do great buildings or whatever. But if your family is falling apart, what good is that?”

Oda cites his priorities: “First thing, serving God; second is family; third is community; and then fourth is client.”

He says connecting the company through the shared value of family “has allowed us to be very cohesive as a group” and to form a positive relationship with the community.

Fulfilling the Community’s Needs Craig Takahata, principal of G70, says that with each project, Oda

and the firm focus on four areas of need in the community: eliminating systemic poverty, eliminating systemic corruption, honoring the local culture and blessing the community.

Oda says one way to honor the local culture is to use architecture to “assist in the sustainability of the land ... (and) the cultural quality of the land.”

“There is no land here in Hawai‘i that doesn’t have a cultural meaning. So, you’ve got to find out what that cultural meaning is,” he says, so the architecture will “keep and perpetuate and strengthen the culture.”

— BY NICHOLE WHITELEY

H AWA I I B U S I N ES S

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Tom Coffman:

An “Extraordinary Storyteller” of Hawai‘i’s Past

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SEPTEMBER 2022

The award-winning writer and filmmaker has explored local history, politics and society, from annexation to recent times

O

ver the years, Tom Coffman has been a newspaper journalist, author, media producer and documentary filmmaker but now devotes his days to writing books full time.

“The last 10 to 12 years, I’ve done almost nothing but writing,” says the 79-year-old. “I love writing.” And this accomplished storyteller is always thinking of new stories to tell.

Many of Coffman’s films and books have examined Hawai‘i’s political and social history, such as the forced annexation, the Korean American journey and the early statehood years when the Democratic Party became a dominant force.

His film, “Ganbare,” about Japanese Americans during the early years of World War II, won Best Film by a Hawai‘i filmmaker at the 1995 Hawai‘i International Film Festival. Three of his books, “Nation Within,” “The Island Edge of America” and “I Respectfully Dissent” won awards from the Hawai‘i Publishers Association, and he’s received the Hawai‘i Award for Literature from the state of Hawai‘i.

Hawaiian writer who influenced his film and book “Nation Within” and the film “O Hawai‘i: From First Settlement to Kingdom.”

“John had more than anyone reconnected people to Queen Lili‘uokalani and then to the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom, and it burned in my brain the importance of illuminating the next step in history, which was five years between the overthrow and America’s forced annexation.”

Coffman’s latest book, “Inclusion: How Hawai‘i Protected Japanese Americans from Mass Internment, Transformed Itself, and Changed America,” was published by UH Press last year. “It’s a history of the development of society in Hawai‘i, the territorial period, and particularly the development of the relationship between the Japanese community and the U.S. government, and the contrast between how Hawai‘i evolved versus how the West Coast evolved,” he says.

The 130,000-word book, which Coffman worked on for 10 years, was just chosen to represent Hawai‘i in the Library of Congress National Book Festival’s “Great Reads from Great Places” list this year.

John Dominis Holt IV

“Deep Knowledge and Insights”

He chooses subjects based on attachments to people in Hawai‘i and through personal relationships, such as his wife of 47 years, Lois U.H. Lee, who is Korean American, and his oldest son, Harry, who is deceased and was part Hawaiian. He’s also drawn inspiration from another writer he knew personally, the late John Dominis Holt IV, whom Coffman calls “the great Hawaiian writer of our time.”

“It was John Dominis Holt who had set in my mind the importance of observance and creating history that’s intelligible to people by creating logical progressions that move forward in time,” says Coffman of the Native

“I’ve always marveled at his work because he’s a genuinely extraordinary storyteller,” says artist and filmmaker Meleanna Meyer, who’s known Coffman for nearly 30 years. “He’s the kind of guy who has masterfully been able to digest and understand in such deep ways about other cultures and there’s no one that comes close to that, with his deep knowledge and insights about not only the Hawaiian culture in particular, but the Japanese, Filipino and Korean for that matter as well.”

Coffman started out as a journalist and he worked at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin for six years, where he became a political reporter. It was also when

he wrote “Catch a Wave,” published in 1972, a study of early statehood politics in Hawai‘i. Soon after, he left newspaper reporting and immersed himself in community media projects with topics ranging from mental health programs to a booklet for the Board of Water Supply.

“One thing led to another and then I got into video production when it became affordable,” says Coffman. “My opening into video production was the era of digitalization. … I could do what was (previously only) done in an enormously expensive studio. The more I perfected my tools, I could do everything on a desktop.”

Books and Films at the Same Time From his desktop, he became writer, director and producer of numerous documentary films that appeared on PBS, including “O Hawai‘i: From First Settlement to Kingdom,” “Nation Within,” “May Earth Live,” “First Battle: The Battle for Equality in WarTime Hawaii,” “Arirang: The Korean American Journey,” and “Ninoy Aquino and the Rise of People Power.”

“I was trying to do one a year, but that eventually became impossible,” he says. “ ‘Arirang,’ which was circulated widely across the country, was two hours and I worked on that probably two years at least. I also finished a book during that period. … That was the crazy thing I did. I would write books and produce films simultaneously.” For example, “Nation Within,” both a film and a book, took a total of 19 months to complete.

“I never worked so hard in my life, but I was determined to get it out before the 1998 observance of annexation, and I did,” says Coffman.

In 2020, Coffman and Meyer worked together on the film “Mauna Kea: Sacred Mountain, Sacred Conduct,” about the ongoing efforts of the kia‘i (protectors) to stop further telescope development on the mountain.

“We managed to put together an extraordinarily beautiful, compelling little film,” she says. “I just can’t say enough about the guy in terms of his deep understanding, deep commitment to social justice issues, not just for Hawaiians, but for all communities.” — BY CHRISTINE HITT

H AWA I I B U S I N ES S

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Amy Agbayani Encourages Everyone to Make a Difference

Her decades of work have focused on supporting immigrants and underrepresented students at UH

A

mefil “Amy” Agbayani has dedicated her life to social justice and diversity since coming to Hawai‘i in the 1960s. She helped establish UH Mānoa’s office for SEED, or Student Equity, Excellence and Diversity; lobbied for immigrants’ rights; and created more opportunities for students who were underrepresented on campus.

She retired from her day job in 2016, but UH’s emeritus assistant vice chancellor for SEED is still active.

“I’m actually busier now than before,” jokes Agbayani, 79.

She currently serves on the Pamantasan Council, a group that addresses the representation and success of Filipinos on all UH campuses; is a board member of the Patsy T. Mink PAC, which supports pro-choice Democratic women for elected offices; is a board member of The Legal Clinic, which provides free legal services to immigrants; and serves on President Joe Biden’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

During the pandemic, she helped establish the Filipino Community Center’s “Filcom Cares” – a volunteer project that supported access to Covid-19 information, vaccination and testing.

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Journey in Hawai‘i and Higher Education Agbayani was born in the Philippines and received a degree in political science from the University of the Philippines. She came to Hawai‘i in 1964 for an East-West Center fellowship and earned a doctorate in political science at UH Mānoa.

She intended to return to the Philippines to teach, but she saw something here that disturbed her: A lot of immigrant Filipino kids were being bullied and not doing well in Hawai‘i’s public schools, she says.

That led to the creation of Operation Manong in 1972, a program for UH students to tutor Filipinos. At the time, Agbayani says, “manong,” an Ilokano term of respect for a person older than you, was being used in a derogatory way.

“If you called one of the kids manong, they would have a fight because they were putting down the elderly, low-in-

dressing issues of student access to higher education.”

Upon her retirement six years ago, UH Mānoa established the Amefil “Amy” Agbayani Faculty Diversity Enhancement Award, which is given to a faculty member who shows an ongoing commitment to enhancing diversity.

Growing the Bench

come single men that were hanging out in ‘A‘ala Park,” she says.

Operation Manong’s founders wanted to restore the traditional meaning. So, the university students became “manong” and “manang” to the younger kids, or “adings.”

The program was funded by church money until it received federal and state aid, and eventually expanded to help all immigrants and those living in underserved communities. The UH program, now called the Office of Multicultural Student Services, celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

It falls under the SEED office, which includes the Kokua Program, a support center for students with disabilities; Nā Kūpuna, a senior visitor program that lets Hawai‘i residents over 60 participate in regular credit classes at UH Mānoa for free; and the LGBTQ+ Center, a support zone for students regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation.

Agbayani says it was named SEED because “you cannot have excellence without paying attention to diversity and equity,” which she says is vital “when we’re ad-

Joey Manahan, who served a total of 13 years on Honolulu’s City Council and in the state House of Representatives, met Agbayani over 20 years ago. He was an undergraduate who had just signed up to be a tutor for Operation Manong.

He says Agbayani inspired him to take interest in his Filipino heritage and identity, which gave him a better understanding of the community. That eventually led to his outreach work and service at the state Legislature and City Council.

Manahan is now the director of government relations and public involvement for the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation.

Agbayani says her job has been to “grow the bench” – which she says means to train young people and give them leadership experience so they can get jobs that can make a difference.

She often tells her students that when they are working, “they should be very ambitious and at the same time, humble.”

“Amy always encourages new students to participate, to get involved in the process, and to be engaged constantly,” says Manahan.

Agbayani, who has decades of experience and success and is wellknown throughout the local Filipino community, likes to share the credit.

“Most people think I dropped from the sky and became important,” she says. “I tell everyone, I used to be important, but before that, I was just a nobody just like them.”

Her strategy: “Hire people who are 10 times brighter than me and I would also listen to them.”

— BY CHAVONNIE RAMOS

H AWA I I B U S I N ES S

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Walter Kirimitsu: 81 Years Young and Just Starting a New Job

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He’s now master of Kamehameha Schools after serving as an attorney, appellate judge, UH’s general counsel and president of Saint Louis School

W

alter Kirimitsu is as ambitious and excited about his work at age 81 as when he was a young man climbing the career ladder. After graduating from Saint Louis School, UH Mānoa and the University of Michigan’s law school, the down-to-earth local boy built a long and illustrious legal career in Hawai‘i and he has no plans to stop anytime soon.

This year, he was appointed master of Kamehameha Schools, a position created in 2000 to oversee the trust and trustees, under the direction of a probate judge. He analyzes the trustees’ annual reports, puts together trustee selection committees and evaluates all of the estate’s processes.

He says he doesn’t know if and when he will retire, “but right now I figure as long as I can serve as master, I’ll continue. After that, who knows, I might join the professional golf association circuit.”

Kirimitsu grew up in the Kalihi-Pālama area, and he likes that his job brings him back to his hometown. His parents, second-generation descendants of Japanese immigrants, had a half-acre vegetable garden at the foot of the Kapālama campus. He remembers helping on the farm every day as a child.

“I had no idea what Kamehameha Schools Kapālama campus was at the time I was working on the farm, but it just coincidentally happened that I was raised in Kapālama and pretty much spent my childhood there.”

Represented Accident Victims In his early years, Kirimitsu worked as a civil litigation attorney in Honolulu for more than 20

years. His main focus was personal injury cases, representing people who were injured in all types of accidents.

“There were a number of different cases where we represented people who were severely disabled,” he says. One significant case involved a young girl who was sitting in the passenger seat of a car when the driver hit an embankment. The girl fractured her neck and was paralyzed. “We were able to get a sizable settlement over the course of the rest of her life,” he says.

He was the president of the Hawaii State Bar Association in 1990.

He was appointed by Gov. Ben Cayetano as an associate judge for the state Intermediate Court of Appeals and served there for five years.

While an appellate judge, Kirimitsu was assigned civil and criminal cases by the Hawai‘i Supreme Court.

Afterward, he went to work for his alma maters, serving as the first general counsel and VP for legal affairs at UH, and then as the first nonclergy president of Saint Louis School. He says that being the president of Saint Louis for nine years was more stressful than any of his previous jobs, including being a judge, which he calls relaxing.

“He’s a very intelligent and talented and well-liked person,” says Alvin Katahara, a friend and former Saint Louis School employee.

He first met Kirimitsu about 10 years ago when Kirimitsu hired Katahara to be the chief marketing officer at Saint Louis School when he was president.

Katahara confesses that Kirimitsu, though known for his distinguished career, is also a “more than accomplished karaoke singer.” He remembers the one time Kirimitsu choked under pressure while attempting to sing in public.

“He was asked to sing the national anthem at a UH baseball game in front of a crowd, and now Walter has a very good voice. He went up there in the middle of the field, was introduced, was given the mic and he forgot the words,” he laughs.

Always Welcoming and Warm Katahara calls the retired judge both a friend and a mentor. He says he admires and tries to emulate Kirimitsu’s upbeat attitude – always welcoming and warm.

He also picked up on the way that Kirimitsu asks for advice.

“He would trust people’s instincts,” says Katahara. “He would seek out my instinct and he would put a lot of trust in my instinctual reaction and whatever answer that was.” Katahara says Kirimitsu is also the best storyteller he knows, able to tell a story about anything and relate it to a personal experience.

After Kirimitsu left Saint Louis in 2015, he told his wife he was retired. “She said, ‘What is that?

You never retired,’ ” Kirimitsu says.

“Well, I retired from Saint Louis.”

He and his wife, May, have been married nearly 60 years and have three children.

He continued working as a member of the state Judicial Selection Commission, helping to pick new judges in Hawai‘i, until 2017. He also has a solo mediation and arbitration business that operates on an on-call basis. His schedule still allows him to play golf once a week, spend time with his wife and perform his master role at Kamehameha Schools.

“He’s a Saint Louis alumnus and very proud alumnus, so I was surprised he took on that (Kamehameha) job but I do know that there’s probably a good mission that he sees,” says Katahara.

“No matter whether he helps someone from Saint Louis or Kamehameha Schools, these are going to be leaders of our community and I know he will do well to help (them).”

— BY CHRISTINE HITT

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Robbie Alm’s

Guiding Principle: “Treat everybody with respect and dignity”

The former senior VP at Hawaiian Electric says that when businesses put the community first, they’re more likely to earn respect and support in return

R

obbie Alm has stepped down from his official positions but still shares his experiences with young people through speeches and training sessions four or five times a year.

He tells young leaders to “become great storytellers,” because, he says, “storytelling is the way to teach.”

But he also advises each young person to become the “world’s greatest listener.” And he doesn’t envy the challenges that await them.

“The next generations face monumental challenges with climate change, wealth disparity, the growing levels of violence and social dysfunction, and a political system that struggles to find consensus and answers,” he says.

“I believe they will find ways through these that make sense and work for them, and us, and those of us with age and experience (i.e. elders) need to stand with them and behind them, and help them on their terms.”

Mentored a Team Alm, who turns 71 on Oct. 16, stepped down from his volunteer positions on the boards of Boys & Girls Clubs of Hawaii and the Hawaii Justice Foundation a few years ago. Earlier, in August 2013, he retired as executive VP at Hawaiian Electric Co. In the early 2000s Alm created a clean energy team at Hawaiian Electric and asked Scott Seu and several other midlevel managers to be a part of it. Seu says Alm became an unofficial mentor for him and others on the team.

While the group searched for ways to produce 40% of the utility’s electricity from renewable energy by 2030, Seu says, he learned from Alm “the power of bringing together a diverse group of folks and to take

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them a little bit out of their day, their normal thinking or their day jobs, and be able to free them up to really think about solutions.”

As an engineer, Seu says he thought about the “technical solutions” before the “human issues.” Alm taught him to flip that mindset and to understand that “technology is there to solve human needs.”

Listening to the Community Alm joined Hawaiian Electric in 2001 as Senior VP of Public Affairs. For his first 60 days, he focused exclusively on engaging with community members to find out how the company was viewed in the community.

“I met with PUC commissioners, retired commissioners, legislators, employees, retired employees, people who hated our guts, the environmental community, just everyone, and just said: ‘Tell me about Hawaiian Electric, tell me about your experiences with Hawaiian Electric. Have we ever done anything right? What have we done wrong?’ ” Alm says he came back with stacks of notes about Hawaiian Electric’s past arrogance and poor treatment of community members, and that those notes “guided the next 10 years of my working life.”

He led his team with the mindset of treating everybody “with respect and dignity.” As he set Hawaiian Electric on that course, he says, the community began to treat the company with that same respect.

This change in direction paved the way for Hawaiian Electric to build the Campbell Industrial Park Generating Station with community support, Alm says.

“It was just such a great lesson that if you sit down and work with the community … you’re going to get a very different kind of treatment because you went respectfully and you asked them, ‘How do you want me to treat you?’ ”

Empowering Young People Alm says that before he left Hawaiian Electric, he focused on training “bright, young” employees like Seu – people who grew up in the community and were connected to it – to be the company’s next leaders.

Seu was named president and CEO of Hawaiian Electric Co. in February 2020 and became CEO of the parent company, Hawaiian Electric Industries, on Jan. 1, 2022.

Seu says Alm’s mentoring gave that group a deeper sense of connection and duty to the land and the people.

As more and more like-minded people assume leadership of the

company, Seu says, Hawaiian Electric “becomes more than just being a really good, well-run business. … It also becomes, ‘How do we see ourselves as a company serving and executing on that duty to this community?’ ” Sensitivity and Respect Early in his career, Alm worked as an assistant to U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye. He learned from him the importance of understanding a culture and respecting its traditions before meeting its people.

“It was that leadership of sensitivity to other cultures. I thought, ‘that’s a Hawai‘i thing,’ ” that sensitivity and desire to be respectful to

others, Alm says.

Seu says Alm lived out those beliefs. “It’s easy to say, well, I’m just so busy. I don’t have time to do anything but my work and my family,” Seu says. “But what I saw in Robbie, I know it wasn’t easy, but he was always able to also spend time really focusing on service via nonprofits or community activities.”

What’s the biggest lesson Seu learned from Alm? “It’s the strength of the team. It’s the strength of the community. If you do that well, then the company will succeed. But it’s in that order. You focus on the human need and the community’s need first and then from that, businesses will succeed.” — BY NICHOLE WHITELEY

H AWA I I B U S I N ES S

41

FOROSALE FOR SALE FOR FOR SALE FOR SALE S OSALE LD LD S

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HOUSE FOR RENT

FOR SALE FOR SALE “HOME FOR SALE” FOR SALE FOR SALE FOR SALE FOR SALE FOR SALE SOLD HOUSE FOR RENT

FOR SALE SOMETIMES MEANS

FOR SALE FOR FOR SALE FOR SALE FOR SALE S OSALE LD FOR SALE FOR SALE FOR SALE FOR SALE FOR SALE SOLD FOR SALE FOR FOR SALE FOR SALE FOR SALE S OSALE LD SOLD FOROSALE FOR SALE FOR SALE FOR SALE FOR S OSALE LD L S

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by

Noelle Fujii-Oride

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HOUSE FOR RENT

SOLD

FOR SALE

A B O U T 4 0 % O F H AW A I ‘ I H O U S E H O L D S A R E R E N T E R S . T H E I R R E L AT I O N S H I P S W I T H T H E I R L A N D L O R D S C A N B E F R I E N D LY A N D S U P P O R T I V E . B U T T H I S T W O - PA R T R E P O R T E X A M I N E S WH E N TH E WA NT S A N D N E E DS O F TE N A NT S A N D L A N D LO R DS C O N F L I C T, W I T H P E R S P E C T I V E S F R O M B O T H S I D E S .

FOR SALE FOR SALE FOR SALE FOR SALE SOLD

PART I: HOME SALES AND RENOVATIONS CAN FORCE RENTERS TO MOVE

LY N N E FE LT LUC K Y WH E N S H E STA RTE D R E NTI N G A S I N G LE FA M I LY H OU S E O N M AU I ’ S SOUTH S I DE TH R E E Y E A R S AGO. IT WAS B I GG E R TH A N H E R PR E VI OU S R E NTA L A N D S H E E NJOY E D S ITDOWN D I N N E R S TH E R E WITH H E R FA M I LY, A N D G ET TI N G A DOG . have to attend a new elementary school.

Other local renters have found themselves in similar situations, often surprised that they must move so their units can be sold or renovated.

Most recently, the Waiakea Villas in Hilo and the Lahaina Crossroads Apartments made headlines when their new owners wanted to push out tenants for renovations. Such stories across Hawai‘i have been shared on social media and with nonprofit workers and lawmakers for years.

Growing Divide

S H E WAS DE VASTATE D when her landlord this summer bumped the rent 28% and said they planned to renovate the house. Lynne immediately paid the extra cost for the next month, using money that would have been in her Christmas fund.

She didn’t know then that the landlord was supposed to give her 45 days’ notice before increasing the rent.

“What that means is I have to pack up my house, possibly put it in storage, give my dog to the humane society and go live at the shelter where the bedbugs are really bad,” she says. “You see the degression that can happen so quickly, and it just really breaks my heart that it was so easy to do.”

When we spoke in June, Lynne and her family were preparing to move to the other side of the island because of the increased rent. She might have to find a different job, and she’s not sure yet whether her daughter will

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I F L A N D LO R D S G I V E T H E I R T E N A N T S proper notice, they can legally terminate leases to renovate or sell their units. Landlords can also raise the rent by any amount.

But many tenants, lawmakers, housing advocates and nonprofit workers worry about the impacts on displaced renters, especially as prices for housing and other essentials increase and few new rentals are being built. They say these renovations and sales are further gentrifying local communities and exacerbating the divide between who can and cannot afford to live in Hawai‘i.

The nonprofit Hawaii Data Collaborative estimates that 59% of households struggle to financially survive in Hawai‘i. The U.S. Census Bureau says about 40% of local households are renters.

“I think it’s a perpetual problem in a state where home values are so robust,” says Philip Garboden, a professor in affordable housing economics, policy and planning at UH Mānoa.

“We don’t see big, sharp increases in renter income to the degree we see increases in homeowner prices.

“The dollars and cents of being a landlord compared to someone who cashes out, sells to a homeowner, sells to someone else, we need to be perpetually worried about here in Hawai‘i.”

Rising Rents AC C O R D I N G TO U H E R O , UH’s Economic Research Organization, Honolulu rents have increased 11% over the last year; asking rents on Kaua‘i increased by 19%, and on Maui by 41%.

UHERO cautions that the Kaua‘i and Maui information came from rental postings on Craigslist and may not be representative of the overall market.

Realtors say part of the reason for the rent increases is that landlords couldn’t raise prices during the pandemic-related eviction moratoriums – despite rising maintenance fees, association fees, utility costs and property taxes.

It’s hard to say how many local renters are being displaced due to renovations or sales. The state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, which manages a landlord-tenant hotline, says it does not have anyone on staff who can address the issue.

Many tenants leave after receiving eviction notices, before any litigation, and those evictions are not tracked. Garboden adds that it’s hard to infer trends from larger apartment complexes, where these types of cases often make the news, and there’s no good data for individual rentals of condos and single-family homes.

Hawaii Business Magazine spoke with renters, landlords, property managers, attorneys, lawmakers and nonprofit workers to better understand the impacts that selling and renovating rentals have on local renters. Some renters in this story have asked that we refer to them only by their first or middle names. They fear that speaking out could jeopardize their work, relationships with new landlords or efforts to find new rentals.

Displaced Tenants S T E V E N K . S C OT T, 6 8 , A N D H I S W I FE have lived

at the 20-unit Lahaina Crossroads Apartments

I N T E R E S T E D I N H OW T H E W R I T E R P U T T H I S S T O RY T O G E T H E R ?

Read tinyurl.com/HIrenter01 to learn about her process.

just mauka of Front Street for 14 years. They thought they might finish their lives there.

This summer they started hearing that tenants would have to vacate for floor-by-floor renovations. The building had been purchased by new owners, and tenants heard that rents would nearly double after construction. The owners ultimately postponed renovations until January 2023, but Scott says the experience has been nerve-wracking.

They still wonder where they’re going to go when rents are so high.

The couple had been paying $1,640 for a one-bedroom and have seen other nearby apartments go for $2,200.

“At 68, I know I’m just poor me, poor me but I never pictured getting to this point in my life,” he says.

Waiakea Villas resident Kristen Alice says a similar situation occurred at her Hilo condo complex in the summer of 2021, when several tenants were told via text messages that they’d need to vacate after the Covid eviction moratorium expired in August. The owner of most of the condos, Tower Development, planned to renovate.

The Waiakea Villas tenant community includes seniors on fixed incomes, individuals with disabilities and single-parent families. Some use Section 8 vouchers to pay their rent; they were told the company would not accept them for the renovated units.

Alice is also the director of community relations at Hope Services, a nonprofit homeless service provider that had placed several Section 8 tenants at Waiakea Villas. She’s since seen a big turnover among tenants, and she worries more renters elsewhere on the island will be displaced under similar scenarios.

It was hard to find housing even before the pandemic, and the island’s homeless shelters almost always have waitlists, she says.

In 2018, 48% of Hawai‘i Island residents were either “asset limited, income constrained, employed” or living in poverty, compared with 42% for the overall state. These working families barely make enough to afford necessities like housing, food, transportation, health care and child care.

Hot Housing Market H AWA I ‘ I ’ S H O U S I N G M A R K E T T H E L A S T T WO Y E A R S has been defined by

low interest rates, a shrinking supply of homes for sale, and lots of demand from residents and nonresidents.

Amanda Han is COO of Cornerstone Properties, which manages over 600 rental properties on O‘ahu. She says she saw many landlords sell quickly after receiving multiple offers, some more than their asking prices.

Covid rental restrictions also played a role. A 16-month prohibition on evictions for nonpayment of rent meant many landlords struggled financially when they couldn’t collect rent, says Chad Takesue, 2022 president of the Honolulu Board of Realtors.

“Coupled with a good time to sell, it’s like, ‘You know what, I don’t want to hold on to this anymore and put another tenant in. Because basically my homeownership rights got taken away, I couldn’t collect rent or seek another tenant who could pay.’ I think that impacted a lot of people to finally sell that asset.”

He adds that it’s often easier to sell a property when it’s empty because the seller can schedule showings without having to disrupt the tenant.

It also provides sellers with more flexibility in the type of buyers they can attract. Owner-occupant mortgages require the buyer to occupy the property within 60 days of closing. Having a tenant with a lease term of more than 60 days tends to result in a smaller buyer pool made up primarily of investors.

Hawai‘i investors tend to hold rental properties for the appreciation

H AWA I I B U S I N ES S

45

gains rather than the cash flow because the acquisition costs are high, says Matt Brummel, president of Rental Property Management Hawai‘i, which oversees 30 O‘ahu properties.

In many mainland neighborhoods, an investor could put 20% or 25% down on a single-family rental, mortgage the rest of the purchase price, and probably enjoy a 10% to 15% monthly return after their mortgage payments and expenses, he says. In Hawai‘i, an investor might lose money each month because the rent would not cover the mortgage payment and other costs.

Brummel says he faced that situation: He owned a two-bed, two-bath Makiki rental apartment and would pay $200 to $400 of his own money each month on maintenance and other necessities. But that made financial sense for him because his mortgage was being paid down by $800 a month and the property was increasing in value. He sold the unit in 2021 to help finance his business. He told his tenants that he wasn’t going to renew the lease and worked with them on the timing of when they’d have to leave.

According to the Honolulu Board of Realtors, renters were living in 9% of the single-family homes and condos that sold in 2019 and 8.5% in 2020. That increased to 12.5% in 2021, and in the first six months of this year, it was 12.4%.

That’s almost 3,600 renter households in homes that sold on O‘ahu during those 3 ½ years, according to the board’s data. It is not clear how many of those renters were displaced because new owners sometimes keep existing tenants. Takesue says that while the board is unable to estimate the impact of landlords deciding to sell their tenant-occupied units, it’s important to remember that every situation is unique and reasons for selling vary.

Garboden says there’s no easy way to use the board’s data and estimate how frequently renters are displaced due to sales, but his sense is that most single-family rentals aren’t purchased with tenants currently occupying them.

The Honolulu board notes its data provides general insight but does not reflect all rental property sales. For example, while a property may have been used as a rental, a tenant may have vacated prior to it being listed.

Such data was not available for the Neighbor Islands.

According to the Lawyers for Equal Justice, 1,600 to 1,800 local households were evicted for various reasons in 2017. Garboden says Hawai‘i has lately been seeing about 150 evictions a month.

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S A L E S F I G U R E S S H OW H OW M A N Y T E N A N T S A F F E C T E D

This chart shows how many of the homes sold on O‘ahu over the past six years had tenants in them before the sale. However, there is no data on how many of those tenants were allowed to stay by the new owners, and there is no similar data for the Neighbor Islands.

12.5%

of Total

12,000

11,729 11.3%

10,000

13.3%

of Total

of Total

9.732

10.0%

9.0%

of Total of Total

9,288

9,127

9,158

8.5%

of Total

8.544

8,000

6,000

12.4%

of Total

4,667

4,000

2,000

1,211

1,104

1,469 932

821

727

2018

2019

2020

580

0 2016

2017

Tenant-occupied sales

2021

2022 YTD-MAY

All sales of condos and single-family homes

T O TA L S F O R PA S T S I X A N D A H A L F Y E A R S

These charts add up the numbers on the chart above.

CONDO SALES ONLY JANUARY 2016JUNE 2022

SINGLE-FAMILY SALES ONLY JANUARY 2016JUNE 2022

COMBINED CONDO AND SINGLE-FAMILY SALES JANUARY 2016JUNE 2022

Tenantoccupied sales:

4,583

Tenantoccupied sales:

2,261

Tenantoccupied sales:

6,844

Total sales

37,339

Total sales

24,906

Total sales

62,245

Percentage 12.3%

Percentage 9.1%

Percentage 11.0%

Renovated Rentals T H E L A S T C O U PL E O F Y E A R S was a good time

for property owners to renovate, Takesue says, because they could take advantage of increased home equity to get loans to fund their projects.

But he says rental property renovations are more likely to occur when tenants change and units are empty.

The exception is when renovations won’t disrupt the tenant. Matthias Kusch, a Hawai‘i Island landlord, kept his long-term tenant when he converted a duplex into a triplex and did other work, like repainting and reroofing.

Tower Development, which purchased 154 apartment units and 8 commercial units at Waiakea Villas in spring 2020, wrote in an email to Hawaii Business Magazine that the complex had not been renovated or properly maintained in over 30 years.

“The property was lender owned when Tower acquired it and in a dilapidated condition with roof leaks, mold, termites & roaches, plumbing and electrical problems and unsafe and unsanitary conditions,” the real estate investment company wrote.

“Tower renovated the units on an organic basis as the tenants vacated the units. In certain instances, there were a few tenants who were asked to move to a newly renovated unit to allow for Tower to renovate their unsafe and unsanitary unit that had county building code-related concerns. The only other tenants that were not renewed were criminals who were dealing drugs or conducting other criminal activities on the property.”

Former tenant Peter Veseskis says he never knew of any tenants engaged in criminal activities. “As far as I know there were a bunch of old ladies and women with children living there, no drug addicts, no drug dealers,” he says. He adds that tenants were pushed out so the renovations could occur. Tower Development did not respond to our requests to provide evidence that the company only evicted tenants engaged in criminal activities.

Thaddeus Marckesano, the resident property manager for the Lahaina Crossroads Apartments, did not respond to our requests for comment.

Required Notice to give month-to-month tenants 45 days written notice if they want to terminate a rental agreement. Fixedterm leases either end by their own terms or convert to month-to-month agreements. Other circumstances, like when a tenant fails to pay rent or

H AWA I ‘ I L A N D LO R D S A R E R EQ U I R E D

“

when a landlord wants to convert a unit into a transient vacation rental, have different notification requirements.

But during the pandemic, landlords could only issue 45-day notices to month-to-month tenants if they or their immediate family planned to move into the unit or if the unit was sold and the new owner gave the 45-day notice, writes Dan O’Meara, managing attorney for consumer and housing at the Legal Aid Society of Hawai‘i, in an email to Hawaii Business Magazine.

Renovations were not among the reasons for which a lease could be terminated, unless a unit would be uninhabitable without those renovations, he adds.

Deja Ostrowski and Fernando Cosio, staff attorneys with the Medical-Legal Partnership for Children in Hawai‘i, say some smaller landlords who weren’t aware of the nuances of the emergency proclamation issued 45-day notices during the pandemic.

Those notices are not the same as court orders to vacate the units, but many tenants chose not to fight them in court Deja Ostrowski and instead left within the 45 days.

Staff attorney, Medical-Legal “The idea of fighting their landPartnership for Children in Hawai‘i lord and having that on their record, whether or not they prevail, is a very scary situation,” Ostrowski says. “And if the landlord wanted them out, I think a lot of people think, ‘They want me out. I need to make other plans or try as best as I can.’ ” But generally, tenants can be legally displaced if their units are sold or renovated and proper notice is given and the landlord is not terminating the lease for discriminatory reasons, the Legal Aid Society and the Medical-Legal Partnership say.

The Legal Aid Society adds that those who receive government subsidies or live in public housing should reach out to the society if they find themselves in this situation as there could be additional legal issues.

The idea of fighting their landlord and having that on their record, whether or not they prevail, is a very scary situation. And if the landlord wanted them out, I think a lot of people think, ‘They want me out. I need to make other plans or try as best as I can.’ ”

Involuntary Moves ‘ I ‘ I N I K A H A K A L AU A N D H E R FA M I LY H A D B E E N R E N T I N G a single-family house mauka of Hilo for eight years. They treated it like a family home and cherished its proximity to the college campus when Kahakalau and her sister were in school and to the doctors for their grandmother. But their landlord wanted to sell, so they had to leave in December 2021.

“It’s disheartening,” Kahakalau says. The family feels fortunate to be able to move back to their Waipi‘o home, but it meant much longer drives for medical care.

Being displaced can be destabilizing and can push low-income and ALICE households into deeper financial stress, and has a cascading effect on social and emotional health, says Kimo Carvalho, VP for community impact at Aloha United Way. According to the Census Bureau, nearly 55% of Hawai‘i renters are

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47

cost burdened, meaning they’re spending at least 30% of their household incomes on rent. Nearly 39% of local homeowners are cost burdened.

The bureau’s data was based on five-year estimates from the American Community Survey.

“Sure, you might have had enough time to pack your belongings but finding another place that you can afford in a climate where rents are going up, when housing is increasingly unaffordable, is not easy,” Garboden says.

“People end up moving farther from where their work is, people end up moving farther from where their family ties are, their faith-based institutions, their kid’s little league, everything gets disrupted because you can’t assume that people can just find something in that neighborhood anymore or find something in that area.”

Carvalho says research shows that disruptions from frequent moves can impede children’s school performances and lead to declines in social skills and increases in behavioral problems.

Search for New Homes H AWA I I B U S I N E S S M AG A Z I N E A S K E D R E N T E R S who had been displaced

due to their units being sold or renovated to share what it’s been like to move during this hot housing market. We received responses from 12 renters across the state.

Many say it’s been difficult. One Kaua‘i renter wrote that almost no rentals were available on the island, and that he’s seen rooms rent for $2,000 a month. He also came close to being scammed by a Craigslist rental advertisement. Another Kaua‘i renter thought he’d have to live in his car until his friends told him about an available unit.

Keri Meyer had been renting a house in Makawao for five years. She and her boyfriend were able to find a new rental close by, but they’re now paying $1,200 more a month.

“I’m grateful it did work out for us, but we didn’t know it was going to,” she says. “So the fear and the anxiety and kind of all those things that people go through, is valid.”

In Kailua-Kona, business owner Felis and her hotel cook husband have been looking for a new place to live for over a year after being pushed out of the two-bedroom condo they’d rented for 18 years. She initially made phone calls to Realtors every day, and they even bid on a few homes but were priced out each time.

“All that was just a roller coaster because your emotions just go, ‘Oh, potential, maybe we’ll have a place to live,’ and it’s ‘Oh, no,’ ” she says, adding that they also ran into scam postings for rentals and for-sale homes.

Makiki Neighborhood Board chairman and state Senate candidate Ian Ross conducted his search in the early days of the pandemic – when his hours had been cut 60% and both his roommates lost their jobs. The group looked Philip Garboden for new places individually, but Ross Affordable housing professor, says his decreased income and uncerUH Mānoa

“

Sure, you might have had enough time to pack your belongings but finding another place that you can afford in a climate where rents are going up, when housing is increasingly unaffordable, is not easy.”

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tainty about his job made it hard to determine what rents he could afford. He also had to limit his search to lower Makiki – the area he represents on the neighborhood board.

“I want to stress though that I didn’t hold any ill will towards the owners and the people who sold my unit,” he says. “But I was put in a very perilous position during a pandemic, and the uncertain economic future and trying to find a new place, under these really tight constraints, was very stressful.”

Increased Competition K U S C H , T H E H AWA I ‘ I I S L A N D L A N D LO R D , has built, remodeled and managed affordable rentals and homes on the island for 22 years. He says he’s seeing a lot more interest in his rentals than in the past – and it’s heartbreaking.

He received over 130 inquiries and 25 applications for a downtown Hilo unit. Normally, he’d receive 10 inquiries and one to three applications.

“You could tell people were searching because they came with their pay stub and credit report and employer letter and all these things, like you could tell they had been denied so many times that they were upping their game each time, learning to outcompete the next guy,” he says, adding that the experience was part of what motivated him to run for Hawai‘i County Council.

“And I made a lot of hard decisions as battalion chief and captain in the Fire Department over the years. But I couldn’t sleep at night. It really bothered me seeing this huge need.”

PART II: HOUSING PROPOSALS INCLUDE MORE PROTECTIONS FOR TENANTS

A

S THE COST OF HOUSING RISES OUT O F R E AC H for more local families, some

tenant advocates are recommending changes to Hawai‘i’s landlord-tenant laws and affordable housing policies.

Kristen Alice is one of those advocates. She is the director of community relations for Hope Services, a nonprofit homeless service provider on Hawai‘i Island and a resident of Hilo’s Waiakea Villas community. That’s where tenants made headlines in 2021 over worries they’d be kicked out after the Covid eviction moratorium ended so the new owner could renovate.

“I’d not consider renovating an apartment

in order to gentrify a good cause,” she says.

“The bottom line is, right now, the wants of outside investors are being prioritized over the needs of local people. I can’t think of anybody who would look at that objectively and think that that’s right.”

She and Hope Services have been researching ideas to create a tenant bill of rights to better protect local renters. They’re still in the early stages, but some ideas include policies that limit rent increases, allow evictions for just causes only and protect renters from sexual harassment.

Other housing advocates and lawmakers have proposed ideas like prohibiting landlords from refusing housing vouchers, having the state or county purchase apartment buildings to keep the rents affordable, and building more subsidized and unsubsidized rentals.

“Just Cause” Evictions S TAT E R E P. A M Y PE R R U S O S AYS S H E ’ S B LOW N AWAY by the gentrification that’s occurred in

working-class O‘ahu communities that she represents, such as Launani Valley, Whitmore Village and Wahiawā, and she’s seen many renters displaced.

Renter displacement in her district seems to happen most often with single-family rental homes, where tenants have fewer opportunities to connect and organize compared to those in apartment buildings. She proposed a just-cause eviction bill, HB 1861, this past session to help give tenants more power and recourse. The bill did not pass.

“We pride ourselves in being a democracy state, but really they (the laws) are incredibly repressive and very much protect the privileged,” she says.

Just-cause eviction policies limit the reasons a landlord can evict a tenant or not renew a lease.

California, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington and New Hampshire have enacted statewide justcause policies, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Several cities have their own versions.

Perruso’s bill distinguished between two types of evictions: At-fault just cause includes things like a tenant failing to pay rent or engaging in criminal activities, and no-fault just cause includes reasons like the landlord wanting to move into, sell or renovate the rental, or convert it into a condo or vacation rental. Under the bill, landlords terminating a lease for no-fault just cause would have to pay a tenant one month’s rent or waive the final rent payment.

Tina Grandinetti, Perruso’s chief of staff, says

one indirect benefit of having a local just-cause eviction policy is that it would help provide data on tenant displacement. “Our picture of what displacement looks like in Hawai‘i, if we just look at the number of evictions that happen, it’s like totally off base,” she says.

Evictions are typically only tracked through summary possession cases in court, but many tenants leave before they get to that point, says Philip Garboden, UH Mānoa’s affordable housing professor. It’s unknown how many evictions go uncounted in the Islands.

“When we think about tenant protections, when we think about helping families stay in their unit longer, it’s not because people have a negative crusade against landlords,” he says. “It’s what can we do to ensure that we’re protecting the most vulnerable people from pretty miserable, negative life experiences around these moves.”

Section 8 Discrimination T H E S TAT E L EG I S L AT U R E T H I S Y E A R PA S S E D A B I L L , SB 206, that would

prohibit discrimination against renters who have housing vouchers, like those from the federal program known as Section 8. Alice says the issue came up at Waiakea Villas in 2021 when several Section 8 tenants say they were told by their landlord that they wouldn’t be allowed to rent renovated units.

The bill was signed into law in July. The new rules only apply to landlords who own more than four rental units. A court must determine whether a landlord has violated these rules, and the penalty can be as high as $2,000 for a first-time violation and $2,500 for a subsequent violation.

Alice says the bill is a step in the right direction because Hawai‘i previously did not prohibit source-of-income discrimination. But the bill doesn’t provide legal counsel for tenants who want to sue, and the amount they can recover is so low that it’s not worth the effort of going to court.

According to a 2018 report by Lawyers for Equal Justice, only about 5% of tenants were represented by counsel in eviction court in Hawai‘i in 2017.

About 70% of landlords were represented by counsel.

Keeping Rents Affordable A N OT H E R PR O P O S E D P O L I CY I S to have the state or county purchase apartment complexes to keep the rents affordable in perpetuity.

That’s being discussed as an option for the Lahaina Crossroads Apartments, which made news in June when tenants feared being pushed out so the building’s new owners could renovate and possibly increase rents to market rates. In early July, the Maui County Council adopted a resolution to authorize the county to purchase the 20-unit building so rents would remain affordable.

In 2019, the state stepped in to purchase the land under the 142-unit Front Street Apartments to prevent 250 low-income tenants from being displaced. It was built in 2001, and the complex’s owner, Front Street Affordable Housing Partners, was required to keep the units affordable for 50 years in exchange for state tax credits. But in 2015, the owners wanted to raise rents to market prices.

The state purchased the land under the complex in 2019 for nearly $15 million. This summer, the state signed a new 75-year ground lease with the landlord, who will pay lower rates in return for affordable rents for the tenants.

Rep. Angus McKelvey, who represents West Maui, Mā‘alaea and North Kīhei, recently met online with housing advocates to talk about the Lahaina Crossroads and an apartment building in Wailuku that faced a similar situation.

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W H E R E A R E T H E C O N D O T E N A N T- O C C U P I E D S A L E S ?

WHERE ARE THE SINGLEFA M I LY H O M E T E N A N TOCCUPIED SALES?

Here are the five neighborhoods on O‘ahu with the highest percentage of tenant-occupied sales of condos from January to May 2022.

Wahiawā 50.0% 4

Here are the O‘ahu neighborhoods with the highest percentage of tenantoccupied sales of singlefamily homes from January to May 2022.

North Shore 43.5% 8

10

Tenant- All condo occupied sales

23

Tenant- All condo occupied sales

Kailua-Waimānalo 22.0% 9

41

Tenant- All condo occupied sales

Mākaha-Nānākuli 22.6% 21

93

Tenant- All condo occupied sales

Mākaha-Nānākuli 17.1%

Waikīkī 24.1% 119

He is running for state Senate and says this approach of having the government purchase apartment buildings could be used for other older affordable complexes in need of renovations. The county could contract with a nonprofit to renovate the buildings and raise rents more modestly than a private sector entity, he says.

“The state government needs to take a much more … radical, proactive approach to try to rein in this speculative behavior to areas where it belongs – like high-end luxury neighborhoods – and try to take back and preserve the units that are affordable or were built as affordable now,” he says. “And we need to hyperaccelerate the building of affordable in perpetuity – and that’s really a key word – rentals and houses.”

More Solutions Needed D E J A O S T R OW S K I , S TA FF AT TO R N E Y with the Medical-Legal Partnership

for Children in Hawai‘i, says she welcomes the new conversations she’s heard about creating regulations that provide housing security for residents by protecting existing housing and focusing on community.

“I’m glad to see that conversational shift to talk about … housing justice and housing security,” she says. “Unlike any other place, we’re on a tiny island and we can’t just build ourselves out of the problem. And I think we need a very in-depth discussion about what we’re doing with the resourc-

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20

493

Tenant- All condo occupied sales

Tenantoccupied

117

All house sales

es we already have here, instead of just talking about building shiny new.”

But some say that Hawai‘i needs to have some bigger conversations about how it wants its housing market to function and who it wants the market to function for.

Enhanced tenant protections are important for the well-being of tenants, but they ultimately won’t be enough if Hawai‘i’s housing values continue to rise far faster than people’s incomes, Garboden says.

“If you don’t have enough affordable housing, you don’t have enough subsidized housing, you don’t have enough housing in general, over time you’re still going to lose people, people are still going to get displaced,” he says. “So it’s always about doing both.”

Supply Shortage AC C O R D I N G TO T H E H AWA I I H O U S I N G A N D F I N A N C E D E V E LO P M E N T C O R P.’ S latest Housing

North Shore 53.1% 17

Tenantoccupied

32

All house sales

Windward Coast 31.8% 7

Tenantoccupied

22

All house sales

Downtown-Nu‘uanu 22.6% 7

Tenantoccupied

Ala MoanaKaka‘ako 33.3%

1

Tenantoccupied

31

All house sales

3

All house sales

Planning Study, which was published in 2019, Hawai‘i needs about 50,000 more housing units between 2020 and 2025. Some of the challenges with meeting that number is that Hawai‘i has lots of regulatory burdens, and many new rental projects need subsidies to be built.

That means new market-rate, unsubsidized rentals are mostly created in the single-family rentals market, where landlords compete for prices with homeowners taking advantage of low interest rates, Garboden says. Hawai‘i needs more rental stock built without subsidies, he says, such as the walk-up, midsized rentals encouraged by Honolulu’s Bill 7.

The Hawai‘i Community Foundation is trying to change Maui’s broken housing system through its House Maui Initiative. The initiative comprises a group of stakeholders working to align affordable housing resources, empower residents to be ready for homeownership, and get community members engaged in policy.

Micah Kāne, president and CEO of the Ha-

wai‘i Community Foundation, says one of the biggest challenges is that policymakers often try to fix the system midstream. He says doing things like stepping in to extend an apartment building’s affordability period is a type of one-off strategy that will never fix the broken system.

“You have to hit the pause button and rethink how you’re approaching delivering affordability because these issues that we’re seeing should just be reminders that the system is broken,” he says.

Instead, he argues that Hawai‘i needs to develop a system that will deliver affordability at scale. Part of that will require the state and county governments to work together so that they can plan infrastructure improvements around future housing projects.

“The Ship is Sinking Quite Quickly” T H O S E W H O G R E W U P O N T H E VA L L E Y I S L E will tell you that a lot has changed since they were children.

Today, half of Maui’s families are cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing. Many people have left for more affordable places on the mainland, and homes that were once for local people have disappeared as housing prices skyrocket and millionaires and billionaires seek their own slices of paradise.

“The ship is sinking quite quickly,” McKelvey says.

He recalls a joke going around Lahaina about how people’s biggest fear used to be getting hit by a mango on Front Street. “Now, it’s getting hit by a Mercedes,” he says. “There are so many affluent new residents here who are extremely wealthy.”

Keone Ball, president of the Realtors Association of Maui, says he’s worried about younger generations and whether they’ll be able to afford homes on the island. He’s seeing owners charge excessively high rents.

“I know a lot of property managers that are talking to their sellers saying, ‘Do you really need to set it that high because we’re displacing workers really, families sometimes?’ ” he says. “We’re losing workers because they’re going back to the mainland or whatever, or even more sad is that they’re from here and have to go to the mainland because they can’t afford to live here.”

The nonprofit Stand Up Maui advocates for affordable housing solutions and held an online meeting in June – the same one that Rep. McKelvey attended – to discuss the Lahaina Crossroads Apartments and another complex in Wailuku that was facing a similar situation. Its president, Stan Franco, says he wants local people to speak out about the housing crisis.

“If we’re not voicing our concern about it, the question that I have is what kind of community will we have? Who will be living here, and what kind of situation will they be living in? Will we become like a Third World country?” he asks, where people who have very little are left to serve the wealthy.

“My concern is for families and my kids, my grandkids, all the generations that come after us, and if we don’t step in and really voice our concern and try to do something about this now, I hate to see what Maui and the rest of HaStan Franco wai‘i will become in the future.”

President, Stand Up Maui

“

If we don’t step in and really voice our concern and try to do something about this now, I hate to see what Maui and the rest of Hawai‘i will become in the future.”

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SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL SECTION

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY OUTLOOK Amidst a building boom, the construction industry has used innovation and creativity to successfully navigate material and labor issues.

BY ADRIENNE ROBILL ARD

2022

SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL SECTION

W

Hawai’i faces many housing challenges.

WHILE THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY WAS CATEGORIZED AS ESSENTIAL since

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contractors, equipment and material suppliers and associate members since 1932. “Contractors are currently dealing with the dilemma of striking the right balance between factoring in price escalations in their bids without pricing themselves so high that their proposals are not considered competitive – on government projects, the low bid wins the work. As a way to address these challenges, contractors are making a concerted effort to diversify their project portfolios, while controlling what they do have control over, namely cutting back on fixed overhead costs wherever feasible,” says Walthall.

L ABOR SH OR TAGE

A

NOTHER HURDLE HAS BEEN A LIMITED WORKFORCE, coupled

with increased demands for housing and construction overall. “A portion of the experienced workers have retired, and some have found other work at what seems to be a faster rate than ever before,” says Tracy Lawson of Lawson & Associates.

“This has created an even greater need for safety training, mentoring, diligence, and good safe work processes to bring new employees on board and keep valuable experienced workers safe and engaged,” says Lawson.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE CENTRAL ALA MOANA

the beginning of the pandemic, freeing it from government shutdowns, it has faced many challenges and has had to stay nimble throughout changing Covid-19 protocols and impacts on the economy. From the tight labor market to supply issues and delays, the industry has navigated and innovated on multiple levels.

Since 1902, Hawaiian Dredging Construction Company, Inc. has provided the State of Hawai‘i with full-service general contracting services, including early projects such as dredging the entrance to Pearl Harbor and constructing the Ala Wai Canal.

Gerry Majkut, President, states, “So far, in 2022, the construction market has continued to be impacted by inflation and supply chain issues. There have been significant cost increases in materials and lead times for materials.

Hopefully, the markets will be able to adjust to alleviate this soon. At Hawaiian Dredging, we continue to look at innovative approaches to mitigate these issues as much as possible.”

Global supply chain disruptions are causing major delays in the shipping of building materials to the Islands, with long lead times, but rising costs are also a factor. “We’re already anticipating the cost of ready mix concrete to increase by 20% to 35% next year. The overall increase in costs coupled with rising interest rates could make some projects infeasible, particularly affordable housing projects, which were challenging for developers to bring to market even before the pandemic,” says Cheryl Walthall, the General Contractors Association (GCA) of Hawai’i’s Executive Director.

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FUTURE THINKIN G

W

HAT ARE THE EXPECTATIONS IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY? Walthall says, “We

appear to be headed for an economic recession in the latter half of this year. In fact, by one indicator, we are already in a recession now since there have been two consecutive quarters of negative growth in G.D.P. However, it doesn’t quite feel like an economic recession – at least, not yet. Contractors remain busy and the labor market remains tight – the unemployment rate for the state was at 4.3% in June 2022.”

The bureaucratic processes that

Lawson & Associates creates successful safety culture training for businesses.

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SEPTEMBER 2022

are required of developers are in need of an overhaul to streamline what can often be a costly and time consuming element in construction.

At the GAC, Walthall says, “This covers the full gauntlet developers need to run through in order to have their projects entitled — a process that can require approvals from and be subject to delays by the State Land Use Commission, the State Historic Preservation Division, County Councils, and County Permitting Departments, just to name a few…We can do better. Elected and appointed government officials need to make these issues a high priority because bureaucracy and delays add costs to projects that ultimately are borne by the end users of the project – whether they be homebuyers, small business owners, or taxpayers. Without change, housing is no longer affordable for most homebuyers, and we will continue to see the exodus of kama‘āina families to other, more affordable states. We believe the government should streamline the project approval process and incentivize housing development so that we can effectively tackle Hawaii’s housing challenges.”

A MESSAGE FROM TRACY LAWSON, PRESIDENT

LAWSON & ASSOCIATES INC.

For 30 years, I have been discovering what it takes to create a successful safety culture. I have concluded that when technical knowledge (measured as IQ) and emotional intelligence (measured as EQ) are uniquely combined, it creates a powerful safety culture resulting in Safety Intelligence (measured as SQ).

According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, quotient as a noun means “the degree, rate, or amount of something.” Simply put, IQ + EQ = SQ. While IQ and EQ are critical, they are interdependent in creating an effective safety culture. One can achieve all the knowledge in the world; however, if they cannot communicate effectively and build trust, the knowledge will most likely fall on deaf ears. Conversely, suppose someone can develop relationships and trust but lacks the right knowledge. In that case, they can quickly erode trust and lead people to complete work in unsafe ways, or focused only on production. So, what is Safety Intelligence (SQ)? It is knowledge of the work and prioritizing people, which creates a culture of effective collaboration to achieve business improvement. SQ — an achievable goal all businesses and employees can share. The Safety Intelligence Institute exists to provide quality, relevant safety training that translates learning in the classroom to action in the workplace.

Lawson & Associates, Inc. is the home of the Safety Intelligence Institute. We specialize in business improvement through effective safety management systems. Contact us at www.lawsonsafety.com, www.safetyintelligenceinstitute.com/ or info@ lawsonsafety.com to discuss how we can help you achieve safe production.

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Delivery methods for safety training have evolved. Lawson notes, “We have seen a significant shift in learners wanting to continue to attend virtually, some want back in the classroom, and more are open to selfpaced computer-based training than ever before. As a result, we pivoted several years ago to certifications in virtual training, adult learning methods for online training, and upgrading all our materials.”

SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL SECTION

A MESSAGE FROM

HAWAIIAN DREDGING CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, INC.

As the industry hires and trains new workers to meet demand, safety is at the core of construction. “We are committed to helping businesses improve by focusing on Safety Management Systems (SMS), focusing on

Images Courtesy of Halekulani

Images Courtesy of Halekulani

processes that integrate safety and have input and buy-in from all key stakeholders and conducting relevant, quality training that converts from competency in the classroom to performance in the field,” says Lawson.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF HAWAIIAN DREDGING CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, INC.

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L U X U RY

H O M E S

The Rich and Famous Love the Neighbor Islands Those with homes there include Jeff Bezos, Oprah Winfrey, Mark Zuckerberg, Jason Momoa, Michael Dell and Willie Nelson. But don’t expect to see all of their names on the deeds.

BY JA N IS M AG IN MEIER D IER CK S

BUY THE LLC – IT’S MORE DISCREET

Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, the second-richest person in the world according to Forbes, took an unusual route by buying the LLC that owned a se-

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cluded estate in Mākena. It’s the same tactic Larry Ellison, the eighth-richest billionaire in the world, used in 2012 when he bought 98% of Lāna‘i, where he now lives full time. In both cases, the name of the company remains on the deed – a practice that can make it difficult to determine who the real owner is.

However, some well-known homebuyers place their own names on the deed.

That’s what actor Matthew McConaughey did when he bought his home at the Kūki‘o Golf and Beach Club on Hawai‘i Island in late 2020.

Legendary guitarist Carlos Santana also doesn’t hide when he buys real estate. Santana last year paid $20.5 million for an 8,200-square-foot spread in Princeville, under his own name, as he did with two other properties he previously owned on the Garden Island.

PHOTO: TRAVIS ROWAN / LIVING MAUI MEDIA

M

AUI, KAUA‘I AND HAWAI‘I ISLAND are favorite getaways for celebrities looking to escape Hollywood’s glare, and some have made the state their second home, buying luxury properties in some of the sweetest spots in the Islands.

But it’s difficult, if not impossible, to track all of the celebrity home purchases in Hawai‘i. That’s because most of the time the official buyer is a limited liability company or a trust that is registered to an attorney or wealth manager to the stars.

That’s what Julia Roberts did when she bought several properties on Kaua‘i’s North Shore. And when she sold a beachfront estate in Hā‘ena, across from the National Tropical Botanical Garden’s Limahuli Garden, in 2020 for $20 million, it was to an entity registered to an attorney in Miami.

Rocker Steven Tyler of Aerosmith also used an LLC to buy his oceanfront home on Maui more than 10 years ago, paying $4.8 million for the Mākena property that borders conservation land.

Other celebrities who own homes on Maui include music legends Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson, media mogul Oprah Winfrey and full-time resident Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac fame and proprietor of the Fleetwood’s restaurant on Front Street in Lahaina.

L U X U RY

Former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan and his wife, Keely Shaye Brosnan, also own property in Hā‘ena under their own names, and Jason Momoa and Lisa Bonet, who split earlier this year, have owned a 5.5-acre property on Kaua‘i’s North Shore for more than 20 years, according to tax records.

WHERE TECH’S ULTRA-RICH LIVE

Momoa and Bonet’s property is not far from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s estate, which comprises more than 1,400 acres of land owned by sev-

$26.5 Million Philanthropists and former educational software developers Bob and Jan Davidson sold this oceanfront estate in Mākena, Maui, for $26.5 million in May. It was the highest price so far this year for a home on Maui, according to Zillow. Called Pono Kai‘a, the eight-bedroom, eight-bath, 10,464-square-foot estate is on 1 oceanfront acre on ‘Āhihi Bay.

H O M E S

eral LLCs. Most tech billionaires seem to prefer Hawai‘i Island, however.

Michael Dell, founder, chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies, and No. 24 on the Forbes billionaire list, is a longtime owner of a large estate at Kūki‘o, as is Charles Schwab, founder and chairman of the investment firm that bears his name, and Intel co-founder Gordon Moore.

Another tech billionaire on the Forbes list, Salesforce co-founder, chairman and CEO Marc Benioff, has had a second home there for more than 20 years.

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COULD A LOCAL BUILDING

CO LL AP SE

LIKE THE ONE IN FLORIDA?

by NOELLE FUJII-ORIDE photography by AARON YOSHINO PH OTO S EBY AB RE ORN 2YO 60 P T EAM 0 2S2 H I N O

WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CHAMPLAIN TOWERS SOUTH CONDO IS UNLIKELY TO HAPPEN HERE, LOCAL CONSTRUCTION EXPERTS SAY. BUT THEY POINT TO A BIG TAKEAWAY FOR CONDO BOARDS: DON’T PUT OFF MAINTENANCE PROJECTS. OTHERWISE, IT’S SAVE A LITTLE NOW AND PAY FAR, FAR MORE LATER.

AWAIIII BBUUSSIINNES ESSS HHAWA

61 61

A DEADLY BUILDING COLLAPSE LIKE WHAT OCCURRED A YEAR AGO at a condo in Surfside, Florida, is unlikely to happen here so long as building owners and associations perform proper maintenance, say local construction experts.

Ninety-eight people died when part of the 12-story Champlain Towers South collapsed on June 24, 2021. The building had a history of maintenance problems, and concerns had been raised about its original design and construction quality. The National Institute of Standards and Technology, a federal agency, is leading the investigation into the cause of the collapse, and a conclusion is likely still at least a year away.

“Don’t look at that type of an isolated event and panic,” says Richard Furst, a Honolulu-based architect and associate principal with Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc. WJE has offices across the country, and some of Furst’s mainland colleagues are involved in the federal probe.

Instead, he says, the Florida incident underscores the importance of maintaining concrete structures in Hawai‘i, where the degradation of building materials is sped up by exposure to sun, salt and water.

“Do as much as you can along the way to maintain your buildings in excellent condition, keep water out

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of the assembly, and then ‘ask’ the structure” what it needs, Furst says.

“Take an individual look at your particular building, evaluate the existing conditions with the help of a qualified professional architect or engineer, determine what work needs to occur in the near-term, medium-term and longer-term … and then work with the property manager to develop appropriate capital improvement budgets to address those needs.”

STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY Steve Baldridge, president of Baldridge & Associates Structural Engineering, says several factors likely contributed to the collapse of the 40-year-old Champlain Towers South. His firm has offices in Honolulu, Chicago, Florida, Guam and India, and he conducted analyses on the Surfside building after it collapsed.

He wasn’t contracted by NIST and was instead just curious about the building, but he did send his results to the federal agency.

He noticed issues with the Surfside building’s tower and ground floor deck. For example, the columns supporting the ground floor deck were small and although they were probably big enough to carry the

floor’s weight at first, the heavy finishes added later may have overstressed it. The slab-to-supporting-column connection point is critical and if it’s overstressed, “punching shear failure” can occur, where the column punches through the slab. That’s a catastrophic failure and can happen quickly, without warning, he says.

“There were some columns that appeared to be over-reinforced and highly stressed and others very slender,” he says. “For tower columns in the area where there was punching shear failures, they would be at risk of buckling failure, bending at the location where the original ground floor deck would have braced them.”

His analysis was based on the building’s permit plans and photos.

Those plans provided him with things like the slab thickness and strength of the concrete, but he doesn’t know if the building was constructed entirely according to those plans. In the plans, the slab was thinner on the perimeter than in the center.

It’s hard to say where the failure started, he says, adding that many people are pointing to the pool deck.

He thinks several issues contributed to the Champlain Towers South collapse, including shoddy construction, old building codes, design issues and not

doing maintenance when there were early warning signs of structural issues.

“Whatever triggered the collapse may have been the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back,” he says. “It will take some time to determine what may have happened but there will likely be many factors in play, some of which would hopefully be mostly unique to this particular building and not a larger inventory of existing buildings.”

RESPONSIBLE FOR MAINTAINING BUILDINGS In Hawai‘i, condo associations are required by state law to set aside money to fund the repair and replacement of shared building components. These reserves are built up through monthly maintenance fees paid by unit owners.

Condo associations are also required to conduct reserve studies that list their buildings’ components, how long each can be used, and the estimated costs to repair and replace each. Jane Sugimura, president of the Hawaii Council of Community Associations, says the reserve study is a tool that helps boards plan for projects like fixing cracks in concrete walls, repainting buildings, installing new roofs and replacing pipes.

The idea is that if they do a good job planning and saving enough reserves, they won’t have to get loans or charge their owners one-time special assessments to pay for projects.

She adds that state law also allows condo boards to mandate that repairs be done, even if the board must get a loan or charge owners a special assessment to pay for them.

“We are required under our statute to do so, otherwise it’s a breach of our fiduciary duty,” she says. “We are tasked to maintain and repair the building. And that means we have to hire resources to help us, we have to hire somebody to do the reserve study, we have to hire engineers and professionals to explain to us what steps have to be taken to properly maintain and repair the building, and we then have to engage in those repairs or replace-

ments. And hopefully we planned correctly, and we have money in our reserves so that we don’t have to do a special assessment.”

Furst has been involved in projects to repair or replace pipes, concrete spall, guardrails, windows, sealants, exterior coatings and roofing assemblies. He says it’s integral that condo boards work with qualified consultants, like architects or engineers, to conduct buildingwide condition assessments.

This will help condo boards get an accurate picture of the condition of their buildings’ components and systems, identify problems, and receive accurate estimates of the components’ remaining service life and maintenance requirements.

Hawai‘i strengthened its reserves law this past legislative session.

Beginning in January 2023, reserve studies must be based on 30-year projections, and associations will need to review or update their studies at least every three years.

Currently, only 20-year projections are called for, and there’s no requirement for how often studies must be updated or reviewed.

Sugimura says the update to the law was spurred by the Surfside condo collapse and that some local condos haven’t updated their reserve studies for 10 or 15 years. Even studies done

before the pandemic are useless now, she says, as construction costs have increased due to supply chain issues.

CONCRETE ISSUES Age and weather contribute to a condominium’s maintenance needs. Many of Hawai‘i’s condominiums were built in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s and will soon need major improvements. And their proximity to the ocean means that salt air can more quickly degrade building materials like concrete, aluminum windows, steel, paint, exposed roofing and waterproofing systems.

“It’s the fact we have got tons of sunshine, we’ve got salt air, we’ve got trade winds blowing that salt air through our buildings,” Furst says.

“But also, the fact that we do have a lot of older buildings that may have not been as well maintained over the course of their life span and just like with our bodies, if we don’t take care of our bodies over the course of time, as we get older, we get more health problems.”

Complex interactions occur between the exterior environment and the various elements that make up a building. And some of those interactions happen subsurface, such as concrete spalling, which is “extremely difficult” to visually assess, Furst says.

“WE (CONDO BOARDS) ARE REQUIRED UNDER OUR STATUTE TO (MAKE REPAIRS), OTHERWISE IT’S A BREACH OF OUR FIDUCIARY DUTY. WE ARE TASKED TO MAINTAIN AND REPAIR THE BUILDING.” JANE SUGIMURA President, Hawaii Council of Community Associations

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Concrete spall is typically confirmed by dragging a metal implement, such as a hammer, across the concrete surface. Spalled concrete generally sounds hollow, rather than solid. But it’s difficult to accurately gauge the amount of concrete spall or delamination that has occurred, he says.

Concrete delamination is a precursor to spall and appears as fracturing in the concrete. It occurs when chloride containing moisture gets into the porous concrete and causes the steel inside to corrode, scale and rust. That scale and rust expands the surface volume of the steel reinforcement and puts pressure on the surrounding concrete and weakens it.

“As that cracking turns into delamination, those forces increase, more moisture gets in through the cracks in the surface concrete. That exacerbates the problem, and it just gets worse and worse until finally at a certain point you actually have spalling where chunk of concrete or chip will completely become de-bonded from the surrounding area,” Furst says. “And it can be just loose but still held in place, or it can actually become dislodged and fall off the building.”

WATER AND CONCRETE Water can be especially damaging, Furst says. And once a building starts to see severe cracking or spalling, it means the problem has progressed beyond just infiltration of water.

“You actually have degradation of the building structure occurring,” he says. “At that point, it’s time to take action.”

Slow-draining horizontal surfaces are more susceptible to water infiltration. He says one indication that water is making its way into the structure is when you see efflorescence or salt deposits on the underside of a pool, recreation or parking structure deck.

Other indicators that moisture has infiltrated the building structure are staining and paint blistering or other finish degradation on the underside of concrete structures.

“Those are the types of things that

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visually you can start to say, ‘Hey, this is an early warning sign. We need to take a look at what’s going on and take some action.”

It’s in a condo board’s best interest to address those warning signs as soon as they see them because the cost of repairs goes up the longer you wait, Furst says.

Fixing a crack consists of routing out the location, filling it with a flexible sealant and then painting over it. This type of repair occurs when the crack has not caused any serious delamination and the concrete structure is still in good shape. Such work would probably cost around $15 to $20 a linear foot. Repairing spall that is 3 inches or smaller would probably cost around $250 a square foot, but it depends on whether the spall is on a horizontal or vertical surface.

Furst says it’s hard to make an apples-to-apples comparison because one repair is based on linear footage and the other on square footage. In any case, he says, preventive repairs are far less costly than remedial ones.

For instance, repairing small concrete cracks and then recoating could cost $1 per square foot, versus $10 per square foot for large amounts of spalling repair and recoating.

Furst and his colleagues tell their clients that being proactive like this can help them extend the lives of their buildings and keep life cycle costs down. Condo boards

might be spending money more frequently, but they’ll avoid major unplanned spending.

BUILDING INSPECTIONS Florida’s Miami-Dade County recently tightened its inspection regulations for commercial and residential buildings as a result of the Surfside collapse. Buildings taller than three stories are now required to be inspected 30 years after construction.

Florida state law requires the same thing, but for condominiums only.

The Champlain Towers South was undergoing its 40-year recertification when it collapsed.

Hawai‘i does not require regular structural inspections of its buildings, but such a rule has been considered.

In 2017, the Honolulu City Council discussed two bills that would have required certain buildings to be inspected every five years. The bills were prompted by a 2016 incident in which a railing failed at Ala Moana Center, causing a man to fall to his death.

This past session, the state Legislature discussed its own bill, HB 1784, to require periodic inspections for buildings five or more stories tall. The bill died.

Baldridge, the Honolulu structural engineer, says that local condos built in the ’90s and later were built to a better building code and better quality control standards than those

constructed earlier. That’s because Honolulu’s building code began requiring that most projects be independently inspected for structural issues, he says. This only applies to new construction, and inspectors check things like concrete strength, whether the rebar is in the right place and is the right size, and whether builders are following the plans. Baldridge’s firm, BASE, offers the inspections as a service to its clients, as do a few other local structural engineering firms.

Baldridge says the Florida building collapse was awful but that such failures are rare. “The building code has safety factors built in and while they’re not intended to be there for maintenance issues or construction errors or design errors, they do provide a level of safety if something like that happens to be in a building.”

Building owners also have a direct interest in keeping their structures safe for occupants, he adds.

WAKE-UP CALL Sugimura, who is also president of the Pearl One condominium association, says the Surfside collapse should be a wake-up call for Hawai‘i’s condos.

READ OUR PAST COVERAGE ON AGING CONDOS

“A Condominium Can Last Hundreds of Years, But Not Its Components”: tinyurl.com/HI condos1

The Hawaii Council of Community Associations and other organizations have been trying to educate board members and condo owners about the importance of setting aside money and using reserve studies to help them plan for necessary maintenance, repairs and replacements.

But she knows many people are not getting the message.

Some condo board members may not want to spend money on large projects because they haven’t properly planned for capital improvements, don’t have the reserves or may not see the long-term value in investing lots of money in capital improvement projects, Furst says.

“That’s, as they say, very penny-wise, pound foolish,” he says.

“You’re trying to save a few nickels and dimes when in the long run that’s going to cost you many, many, many more dollars because of the advance

“Why Condos Need to Plan Ahead for Major Repair Projects”: tinyurl. com/HIcondos2

“Advice for Hawaii Condo Owners and Boards”: tinyurl. com/HIcondos3

of deterioration of the existing structure that otherwise would have been better protected by investing in more preventative maintenance work.”

And some properties he’s worked with have relied on accounting-based analyses for capital improvement planning. For example, the data tells condo boards that their roofing systems or other components will last X years, so they’ll base their roofing maintenance or replacement plans on that. But that analysis doesn’t account for everything, and a particular roof could need attention sooner than expected.

Furst recalls a phrase from Dick Elstner, who started his firm’s Honolulu office 45 years ago: “Ask the structure.”

“Really evaluate the actual structure. Don’t make assumptions based on building type or system type.

Really get to know the individual building and see what’s going on with that building and figure out what the building is telling you that it needs.”

He adds: “There are some projects that building owners will have to undertake during the life span of a building that are going to be expensive and are going to require a loan or some other means of large-scale financing, either an assessment or what have you.”

Re-piping is one example. Many local condominium boards previously thought pipes would last 75 years, so they didn’t include re-piping projects in their reserve studies. They eventually had to charge owners a special assessment when they discovered that pipes only last about 40 years.

“But by and large, your maintenance-scale types of projects don’t have to be that way,” Furst says. “They can really be planned out in more proactive fashion and undertaken in a way that doesn’t necessarily put a serious hurting on the pocketbooks of the building owners.”

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65

ESOPs

Some Business Owners are Turning Workers into Employee-Owners It’s called an ESOP and the perks include tax deductions for companies, retirement benefits for employees, and businesses that won’t be gutted by outside buyers

BY RYA N N COU LE S

T

OMMY SILVA, THE FOUNDER AND OWNER OF T&T TINTING, started thinking about his retirement and the

future of his company when he turned 55 in 2016.

“I don’t have children, nephews or nieces, or anybody that’s in the business that I can pass it to. I’ve been in the business over 35 years already. I’m thinking, ‘How do I get out of this?’ ” Silva consulted a financial and succession advisor, Marko Mijuskovic of WestPac Wealth Partners, to consider exit strategies.

“The first thing we did was look at a third-party sale,” he says. “There were a couple of companies on the mainland that wanted to acquire T&T because of who we are. We’re No. 1 in the nation most years for auto tinting by far. We do more cars than any tint shop in California or Nevada or Arizona or Florida or anywhere else.”

DIDN’T LIKE THEIR PLANS

Silva talked with several entities but wasn’t comfortable selling to them after hearing their plans. “It included bringing in their people and getting rid of my management staff, swapping brands out that my customers have become accustomed to and have lifetime warranties that would become void.

“You know, the deal was good, the money’s good, but I couldn’t sign it. It didn’t settle well with me.”

Mijuskovic then proposed an employee stock ownership plan and Silva said yes. T&T began the ESOP process in 2017 and the plan became official in October 2021, right around the company’s 40th anniversary.

To help with the transition, Silva hired Terry Lee, an ESOP expert who also helped the Roy’s restaurant chain and Teddy’s Bigger Burgers transition toward employee ownership.

“PASSIONATE ABOUT IT”

Brian Bowers is president of the ESOP Association’s Hawai‘i chapter. Bowers + Kubota Consulting Inc., the construction management, architectural and engineering design firm he co-founded, became a 100% ESOP in 2012.

“The more I learned about ESOPs, the more I became

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ESOPs

passionate about it. When all the benefits of becoming ESOP were first explained to us, it seemed too good to be true. Like, there’s this great retirement plan for your company, and your company is going to become a taxfree entity. It almost doesn’t even sound right. But it is, in fact, true,” says Bowers.

“I think it’s been remarkably successful. The company has grown well over 10% a year since 2012.”

One reason Bowers advocates for ESOPs is an ongoing small-business crisis. Baby Boomers own about half of all privately held firms in Hawai‘i and many owners need to figure out exit strategies so they can retire. This surge in retirements is part of a series of trends involving aging Boomers that is nicknamed the “Silver Tsunami.”

According to the national ESOP Association, “Employee ownership, including ESOPs and work cooperatives, addresses the Silver Tsunami by providing viable succession plans that lead to job retention and dollars staying local.”

ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET

An ESOP is a type of employee retirement plan that sells all or part of a company’s stock to a trust. As employees become vested – typically after five or six years on the job – they earn an ownership stake. That stake increases the longer they stay with the company. When employees retire, leave or die, their shares are bought back by the ESOP for the value of the stock at that time.

The transition to an ESOP is complicated, so people considering one should hire an expert.

Business owners can separate from the company once the ESOP is set up, or as soon as they feel comfortable.

“T&T Tinting is my baby and I plan to stay involved as a consultant to our new CEO (Kyle Horimoto) as well as the management team to help them with any large decisions such as future expansion, etc.,” Silva says.

CHANGE IN ATTITUDE

Owning shares in a business can change an employee’s thinking, Silva says.

“The best benefit is you get all your employees engaged in really looking at the business as their own and not the boss’s. ‘I want to pick up that trash on the floor. I’m going to make my bathroom look clean for my client. I’m going to make sure when I walk by everybody’s smiling.’ Everybody’s engaged in all of those aspects that before only the owner would do.”

Employee-owners are motivated to make the business more profitable because revenue growth means higher share prices, which benefits them when they leave the company.

Alyssa Lau, an employee-owner of Austin Tsutsumi and Associates, agrees. “We all have a role to play in the success of our ESOP and when we all contribute to the company, we all benefit,” she says in the January 2022 newsletter of the Hawai‘i Chapter of

ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES

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ESOPs

The ESOP Association.

Another employee-owner of that same company, Tyler Makabe, also has positive things to say. “ESOP is like a reward for helping build the company. The success of ATA truly lies in the hands of all of us, and hard work betrays none.”

TAX BENEFITS

Beyond protecting the company’s existing workforce, culture and reputation, ESOPs are attractive because of tax benefits. S corporations that are 100% ESOPs are exempt from paying federal and state income taxes, unless the state they are in specifically implements an income tax on S corporations. Hawai‘i does not.

“That was one of the biggest things going forward for them (the employees).

Not for me as an exiting owner, but for them as new owners,” says Silva. “They are a chapter S corporation. That is completely tax exempt, no corporate tax.”

Another benefit is that qualifying companies can take loans from existing profit-sharing plans, with tax-deductible payments on both the principal and interest. That saves a lot of money in borrowing costs.

Silva says T&T’s employee-owners plan to use the savings to grow and improve the business.

“We’re talking about expanding our automotive paint protection division into doing full color change wraps for cars, vinyl, all of that. They’ve also been looking at possibilities of expansion to the outer islands.”

10.57 MILLION EMPLOYEE-OWNERS

The ESOP Association, with chapters nationwide, says there are 6,549 ESOPs in the U.S., with 10.57 million employee-owners. The Hawai‘i chapter currently has 40 member companies.

A 2021 study by the National Center for Employee Ownership on behalf

of Employee-Owned S Corporations of America found many financial advantages with ESOPs. It said ESOPs provided greater financial security for employees heading into and during the pandemic, compared with similar conventional firms. Job retention was better with ESOPs, too.

“Controlling for company size, industry and region, the ESOP advantage is an estimated $67,000 more assets in the average account balance,” the study says.

Hawai‘i is home to 65 ESOP businesses. In addition to those already mentioned, they include HPM Building Supply, Electricians Inc., Ronald N.S. Ho & Associates, Aqua Engineers, Unitech, C C Engineering & Construction Inc., American Floor & Home, and Chart rehabilitation.

“I want to educate people on ESOPs because I think businesses should know they are a viable ownership transition strategy. All companies should at least consider it as part of their succession plan,” says Bowers.

Embrace Change As leaders in Hawaii and beyond, our clients understand that change brings with it challenges and new opportunities for growth. And for 165 years, Carlsmith Ball has been a trusted partner, providing clients with the tools and innovative solutions they need to succeed.

CARLSMITH.COM HONOLULU • HILO • KONA • MAUI Managing Partner Laura Lucas

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H AWA I ‘ I ’ S

Hawai‘i’s Most Profitable Companies 2022 Fueled by its China service, Matson tops our latest list that shows how 70 companies and nonprofits fared in 2021, a year of recovery

BY CY N T H I A W E S S E N D ORF

H

AWAII BUSINESS MAGAZINE’S LIST of Hawai‘i’s Most Profitable

Companies follows up on our annual Top 250 ranking, which reports gross sales or gross revenue from the state’s biggest companies.

The latest Top 250 list, published in August, tracks organizations and industries in the rebound year of 2021. Tourism and airlines made significant gains, while real estate and shipping exceeded revenue figures from the boom times of 2019.

This Most Profitable list gives a fuller financial picture of 70 of those Top 250 companies, both for-profits and nonprofits. The profit/surplus and loss/deficit figures listed are mostly self-reported; annual reports and other public data were consulted for companies marked with an asterisk.

Matson topped the list this year by a long shot, reflecting the explosive growth in international shipping and soaring freight rates across the industry.

The company’s $3.925 billion in gross revenue and more than $927 million in profit were largely the result of adding two weekly services between China and the U.S. West Coast to its existing line, and capturing more of the lucrative pandemic-era market.

Matt Cox, Matson’s chair and CEO, says he expects the company to drop one of its three China-to-California services once demand for goods normalizes and freight rates fall. But he anticipates strong revenues and profits to continue, if at less elevated levels.

“We were doing just fine before this super cycle, paying off debt and doing vessel construction projects and giving high dividends to shareholders,” says Cox.

HMSA LEADS NONPROFITS

HMSA, the No. 1 company on the Top 250 list yet again, continues to dominate the local health care sector. With 765,000 members, the insurance company reported nearly $4.3 billion in gross revenue in 2021 – up 5.4% from the previous year.

But unlike 2020, when HMSA reported a more than $31 million deficit, in 2021 the organization collected nearly $49 million more in revenue than expenses. Financial sheets from the two years show that administrative expenses and taxes were lower in 2021 compared to the previous year, thus creating the surplus.

Hawai‘i nonprofits are a lifeline for people in tumultuous times, as they were in 2020. As private and public money poured into their offices for distribution to the community, many nonprofits reported high revenue but small end-of-the-year surpluses or even actual deficits.

But in 2021 many of those organizations boasted stronger end-of-year balance sheets, with much healthier financial cushions, including Child & Family Service, YMCA of Honolulu, Catholic Charities Hawai‘i and Easterseals Hawaii.

EMPLOYEE-OWNED

Tiny profits aren’t always a sign of weakness, though, even in the private sector.

In 2021, T&T Tinting Specialists reported just $655 in profit, in contrast to the previous year’s more than $143,000.

Founder Tommy Silva says the company became an employee-owned S corporation at the start of October 2021,

M O S T

P R O F I TA B L E

C O M PA N I E S

and the smaller figure reflects “all of the adjustments and ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) setup costs, along with payroll and bonuses paid out.”

With the new structure, T&T Tinting’s 32 employees share the rewards of their work and boost their retirement funding, while the company is exempted from paying business taxes.

“It’s a great way to transition a business from an owner to the loyal staff that helped create the business, kept it alive during the hard times and kept it growing in the good times,” says Silva.

He expects innovation and productivity to take off as employees experience a “shift in realization that everything they do now, each day going forward, is for them, not for the boss or the one owner.”

See a story on T&T Tinting and other local employee-owned companies on page 66.

HAWAIIAN TELCOM & HAWAIIAN AIRLINES

Two giants in the Islands, Hawaiian Telcom and Hawaiian Airlines, enjoyed huge gains in revenue during 2021 but also sustained losses.

Hawaiian Telcom reported a more than 400% jump in gross revenue in 2021, to almost $1.7 billion – the result of a merger with Macquarie Infrastructure Partners V. Despite the revenue jump, the company reported a loss of $108.5 million.

Suzanne Maratta, VP and corporate controller at Hawaiian Telcom’s parent company, Cincinnati Bell, explained that Hawaiian Telcom had “additional depreciation and amortization expenses in 2021 related to the increased value of property, plant and equipment, and intangibles as a result of recording amounts at fair value as of the merger date.”

Hawaiian Airlines made serious strides in 2021 – up 89% in gross revenue from 2020 – but continued to post losses. In 2021, the airline ended with a nearly $145 million loss, which is still significantly better than the nearly $511 million loss in 2020.

Once Japan eases travel restrictions, Hawaiian Airlines is expected to recover to earlier levels, although high fuel prices could take a bite out of profits.

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H AWA I ‘ I ’ S

PROFIT RANK 2022

M O S T

PROFIT RANK 2021

P R O F I TA B L E

TOP 250 RANK 2022

C O M PA N I E S

COMPANY NAME

FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES (2021)

GROSS ANNUAL SALES (2021)

NET PROFIT/LOSS (2021)

PROFIT/ LOSS AS % OF REVENUE

1

2

2

Matson, Inc.

2,441

$3,925,000,000

$927,400,000

23.6%

2

3

13

First Hawaiian Bank

2,063

$734,227,000

$265,735,000

36.2%

3

4

14

*Bank of Hawaii Corp.

2,000

$698,069,000

$253,372,000

36.3%

4

1

4

Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.

3,597

$2,850,379,000

$246,166,000

8.6%

5

27

51

Layton Construction

72

$191,327,000

$109,647,000

57.3%

6

5

33

American Savings Bank

1,117

$301,886,000

$101,234,000

33.5%

7

6

39

Central Pacific Financial Corp.

755

$254,107,000

$79,894,000

31.4%

8

64

1

Hawaii Medical Service Association (HMSA)

1,564

$4,294,161,646

$48,879,698

1.1%

9

16

27

Alexander & Baldwin, Inc.

611

$379,300,000

$35,800,000

9.4%

10

7

103

*Territorial Savings Bank

n/a

$64,970,000

$17,430,000

26.8%

11

8

30

UHA Health Insurance (University Health Alliance)

163

$325,680,000

$18,160,000

5.6%

12

58

121

Lili'uokalani Trust

158

$51,953,000

$15,144,297

29.1%

13

n/a

120

Kāhala Nui

249

$52,252,388

$13,931,341

26.7%

14

56

94

HEMIC

113

$77,108,386

$11,965,201

15.5%

15

n/a

95

Hawaii State Federal Credit Union

379

$76,920,958

$9,834,623

12.8%

16

n/a

185

Hawaiian Humane Society

92

$17,365,000

$9,377,444

54%

17

12

132

Aloha Pacific Federal Credit Union

186

$39,855,871

$8,756,173

22%

18

11

54

Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative

145

$158,787,454

$8,296,852

5.2%

19

n/a

188

National Tropical Botanical Garden

81

$16,706,324

$6,829,534

40.9%

20

n/a

180

Blood Bank of Hawaii

114

$19,097,398

$6,636,545

34.8%

21

63

182

Barnwell Industries Inc.

36

$18,113,000

$6,253,000

34.5%

22

18

174

Finance Factors Ltd.

119

$21,106,501

$5,474,852

25.9%

23

47

69

Catholic Charities Hawai'i

253

$118,581,000

$5,465,000

4.6%

24

20

113

Hawaii Foodbank Inc.

65

$58,133,000

$5,417,000

9.3%

25

n/a

196

Express Employment Professionals

22

$13,904,880

$5,255,844

37.8%

26

43

140

Child & Family Service

250

$34,240,000

$5,140,000

15%

27

9

48

Hawaii Medical Assurance Association (HMAA)

3

$201,000,000

$5,100,000

2.5%

28

n/a

74

Kawailoa Development LLP

898

$104,500,000

$4,600,000

4.4%

29

22

152

Atlas Insurance Agency

95

$28,004,000

$3,267,000

11.7%

30

13

128

Na Ali‘i Consulting & Sales LLC

275

$44,456,970

$3,074,166

6.9%

31

n/a

105

The Elite Companies

55

$63,872,723

$2,822,000

4.4%

32

55

229

Pacific Fleet Submarine Memorial Association

35

$6,900,000

$2,800,000

40.6%

33

25

210

Honolulu Federal Credit Union (HOCU)

51

$10,965,581

$2,535,476

23.1%

34

23

221

House of Finance Inc.

n/a

$8,600,000

$2,445,495

28.4%

35

29

138

Pacxa

80

$36,880,000

$2,140,000

5.8%

36

30

197

Pearl Hawaii Federal Credit Union

72

$13,738,022

$2,078,205

15.1%

37

24

156

**Hawaii National Bank

157

$26,885,000

$1,897,000

7.1%

38

36

173

Hickam Federal Credit Union

104

$21,465,184

$1,724,197

8%

39

61

187

Easterseals Hawaii

238

$16,744,565

$1,508,895

9%

70

SEPTEMBER 2022

H AWA I ‘ I ’ S

PROFIT RANK 2022

PROFIT RANK 2021

TOP 250 RANK 2022

COMPANY NAME

FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES (2021)

M O S T

GROSS ANNUAL SALES (2021)

P R O F I TA B L E

NET PROFIT/LOSS (2021)

C O M PA N I E S

PROFIT/ LOSS AS % OF REVENUE

40

45

170

YMCA of Honolulu

127

$22,033,000

$1,491,000

6.8%

41

n/a

157

Waikiki Health

195

$26,725,323

$1,408,275

5.3%

42

n/a

216

Maui Clothing Co. Inc.

70

$9,576,618

$1,397,269

14.6%

43

33

215

Hawaii Central Federal Credit Union

42

$9,602,000

$1,386,200

14.4%

44

n/a

186

Elemental Excelerator Inc.

32

$17,176,949

$1,132,971

6.6%

45

46

147

*Cyanotech Corp.

n/a

$32,345,000

$920,000

2.8%

46

n/a

240

Environmental Science International, Inc.

20

$4,696,801

$816,967

17.4%

47

37

250

Aloha Harvest

17

$3,730,947

$780,572

20.9%

48

n/a

194

Century 21 iProperties Hawaii

4

$14,507,391

$750,325

5.2%

49

57

211

Bishop & Company Inc.

10

$10,841,382

$697,075

6.4%

50

n/a

228

ATN Construction

45

$7,009,700

$612,000

8.7%

51

38

207

Hawaiian Islands Freight Association

5

$11,284,763

$596,715

5.3%

52

n/a

233

Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii

61

$5,951,305

$571,873

9.6%

53

n/a

217

Life Cycle Engineering

49

$9,550,000

$540,000

5.7%

54

41

245

Intech Hawaii (aka Integration Technologies Inc.)

25

$4,050,000

$505,000

12.5%

55

n/a

238

Integrated Facility Services Hawaii

38

$4,875,960

$399,452

8.2%

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H AWA I I B U S I N ES S

71

H AWA I ‘ I ’ S

PROFIT RANK 2022

M O S T

PROFIT RANK 2021

P R O F I TA B L E

TOP 250 RANK 2022

C O M PA N I E S

COMPANY NAME

FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES (2021)

GROSS ANNUAL SALES (2021)

NET PROFIT/LOSS (2021)

PROFIT/ LOSS AS % OF REVENUE

56

n/a

231

Alana Investment Group, LLC

26

$6,538,539

$301,700

4.6%

57

48

224

Gartner Inc.

5

$7,995,000

$246,867

3.1%

58

35

171

Honolulu Community Action Program, Inc.

337

$21,661,612

$201,129

0.9%

59

44

235

Infinium Interiors, LLC

22

$5,664,087

$152,000

2.7%

60

39

220

Hale Kipa Inc.

85

$8,692,229

$90,237

1%

61

51

241

T&T Tinting Specialists Inc.

32

$4,687,458

$655

0.01%

62

52

116

Shioi Construction Inc. (dba Creative Partition Systems)

229

$57,593,375

-$55,473

-0.1

63

n/a

234

Vivia Cares, Inc. (fka Ho'okele Health Innovations, LLC)

123

$5,717,974

-$81,742

-1.4%

64

50

226

Legal Aid Society of Hawaii

108

$7,174,285

-$299,148

-4.2%

65

31

208

Video Warehouse, Inc.

58

$10,981,763

-$562,705

-5.1%

66

n/a

154

Parents And Children Together

344

$26,971,653

-$982,531

-3.6%

67

10

38

First Insurance Company of Hawaii Ltd.

280

$256,700,000

-$1,800,000

-0.7%

68

62

201

Maui Land & Pineapple Co. Inc.

n/a

$12,443,000

-$3,420,000

-27.5%

69

n/a

8

Hawaiian Telcom

n/a

$1,693,100,000

-$108,500,000

-6.4%

70

65

10

Hawaiian Airlines

5,667

$1,596,584,000

-$144,773,000

-9.1%

* Net income from Form 10-K in annual report. ** Net income attributable to bank and noncontrolling interests from FDIC report.

Papé Machinery is excited to offer state-of-the-art Wirtgen Group machines and cutting-edge technologies for road construction and mining to customers in the Hawaiian Islands.

72 S E P Tour EMBER 2022

L D ESIG

64

AW A R D S

AN

UA

N

2O22

N

THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS, HONOLULU CHAPTER PRESENTS

TH

DESIGN AWARDS Shaping Communities Through Design Excellence

Juried Awards People’s Choice Awards Mayor’s Choice Award USGBC Sustainability Award Hawai‘i Energy Award Hawaii Home + Remodeling Editor’s Choice Award Community Impact Award Student Design Awards Distinguished Entrants

This moment started here.

riggsdistributing.com HAWAI‘I SHOWROOM OPENING IN FALL 2022

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TABLE OF CONTENTS PRESIDENT 'S MESSAGE E S I D ENT ’ S 75 • PR M E S SAG E

76

•

M EE T TH E J U RO R S

Aloha,

D LE VEL S 77 • AWAR AN D PROJ EC T CATEG O R I E S •

MAHALO TO O U R S P O N SO R S

FR AM E WO R K FO R 79 • AIA D E S I G N E XC ELLEN C E DS OF 80 • AWAR E XC ELLEN C E •

HAWAI ‘ I H O M E + R EM O D ELI N G ED ITO R ' S C H O I C E AWAR D

D S O F M ER IT 84 •• AWAR HAWAI ‘ I EN ERGY

•

89

•

AWAR D FO R EN ERGYEFFI CI ENT D E S I G N PEO PLE ’ S C H O I C E AWAR D CO M M U N IT Y I M PAC T AWAR D

N O R AB LE 90 • HMOENTI ON

91 93

•

MAYO R ’ S C H O I C E AWAR D

•

U SG B C HAWAI ‘ I S U STAI NAB I LIT Y AWAR D

Table of Contents

78

AIA Honolulu is pleased to recognize the leading architects shaping our communities through good design. Established in 1958, the 64th Annual AIA Honolulu Design Awards celebrate outstanding achievements and dedication to excellence in architectural design. The program seeks to elevate the quality of architectural practice in Hawaii and expand public awareness of the power of architecture to improve the places we live, work, and play.

We kicked off the year with the release of the Chapter’s 2022-2025 Strategic Plan which embraced AIA National’s twin goals of climate action for human and ecological health and advancement of racial, ethnic, and gender equity. To that end, this year’s program marks the first use of the AIA’s Framework for Design Excellence (page 7), which recognizes our profession’s unique ability to harness the power of design to contribute to the most significant needs of our time, driving progress toward a zero-carbon, equitable, resilient, and healthy built environment.

This year’s professional submissions showcase a range of sensitive, inspiring, and regionally appropriate design solutions while the student submissions addressed locally pressing issues including sea level rise, coastal resiliency, Hawaiian cultural preservation, and affordable housing. Mahalo to our AIA members and students who submitted these inspiring works for consideration, and congratulations to all our outstanding award winners.

Jim Nicolow, FAIA, LEED Fellow 202 2 AIA HONOLULU PRESIDENT

•

STU D ENT D E S I G N AWAR D S

I STI N G U I S H ED 96 • DENTR ANTS

D E S I G N AWA R D S COMMITTEE CHAIRS

Ryan Sullivan, AIA Stephanie Ing, Assoc. AIA Juliann Chen, Assoc. AIA (Students) Kristoffer Jugueta, Assoc. AIA (Students) A I A H O N O L U L U S TA F F

Julia Fink, EVP

Camilla Nicholas, Assistant Director Jordan Schmidt, Admin & Events D E S I G N AWAR DS CO M M IT TE E

Fred Hong, AIA Henry G. Schneider IV, Assoc. AIA Jason Takeuchi, AIA

John Fullmer, AIA Liana Takamine, AIA Lorena Yamamoto, AIA Lisa van den Heuvel, Allied Member S PECIAL THAN KS TO

Austin Chun, Assoc. AIA Jennifer Pang, Allied Member

PUBLISHER

Cheryl Oncea A S S O C I AT E PUBLISHER

Kent Coules C R E AT I V E DI R ECTO R

Kelsey Ige

A DV E R T I S I N G P R O J E C T M A N AG E R

Michelle Okada AC C O U N T EXECUTIVES

Kellie Moe Mea Aloha Spady CONTRIBUTING E DITO R

AIA Design Awards 2022 is published

by Hawaii Business Magazine, in partnership with AIA Honolulu, September 2022. ©2022 by aio Media Group, 1088 Bishop St., Suite LL2, Honolulu, HI 96813.

Adrienne Robillard

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M E ET TH E J U RO R S | PRO F E SS I O NAL CATEG O R I E S

Meet the Jurors

DERRICK CHOI, AIA (AIA BOSTO N SOCI ET Y FOR ARCHITECTURE) S E N I O R A S S O C I AT E , NORTHEAST REGIONAL AV I AT I O N P R AC T I C E AREA LEADER, GENSLER

Raised in Honolulu and a graduate of Maryknoll High School, Derrick has been based in the Northeast for the last two decades while working on civic, infrastructure and transportation projects from Atlanta to Amsterdam to Abu Dhabi. As a Regional Aviation Leader at Gensler, he is focused on leading teams in delivering connected, sustainable and equitable traveler experiences while balancing the obligations of fiscal responsibility with design and operational excellence.

M AY U M I H A R A DAO , A I A (AIA HONOLULU) A R C H I T E C T, J O H N H A R A A S S O C I AT E S I N C . A N D M AY U M I H A R A DAO A R C H I T E C T, L L C

Mayumi Hara Dao is a third-generation Hawai’i architect who works on a range of projects from athletic facilities to single family houses. For the past 18 years, she has enjoyed collaborating with clients, architects, engineers and contractors from the beginning to the end of each project. She is always intrigued by the effects of weathering, door hardware and lava rock walls, and the ongoing pursuit of what it takes to create meaningful architecture in Hawai‘i.

J E N N I F E R PA R K , A I A (AIA CH ICAGO) PRINCIPAL , B R I N I N S T O O L + LY N C H

Jennifer Park has completed academic, commercial, residential, and retail projects in cities including NYC, LA, Mexico City, and Chicago.

She is also the second year architecture studios director at Illinois Institute of Technology, has served on the Executive Committee for AIA Chicago’s board of directors, led the AIA Chicago Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the Diversity and Inclusion Committee at IIT. Jennifer’s accomplishments – and particularly her commitment to addressing diversity and equity issues have resulted in her receiving various awards including the 2021 AIA National Young Architects Award and the 2019 AIA Chicago Dubin Family Young Architect Award.

B R I A N S T R AW N , A I A (AIA HONOLULU) CO - FOUNDER OF S T R AW N S I E R R A LTA A N D P R I N C I PA L I N V E S T I G AT O R , U H C D C

Brian is an architect professionally trained in user research and design strategy at the Institute of Design, founded as the New Bauhaus in Chicago.

At the University of Hawai i at Mānoa, he conducts multidisciplinary design research projects as a Principal Investigator at the UH Community Design Center and teaches research-focused design studios and seminars at the School of Architecture.

In parallel to his work at UH, Brian leads Strawn Sierralta, an award-winning architecture and design practice founded in 2003.

P O L LY T I C E , P R I N C I PA L & RESEARCH SECTION DI R ECTO R , MASO N

Polly leads the Research Section at MASON, overseeing the firm’s historical consulting work. Polly and her team advise a wide range of clients, from commercial and institutional property owners, homeowners, engineering and planning firms, developers, to government and military agencies on best practices for historic buildings. She enjoys working with other architectural, planning, and archaeological firms on a wide variety of historic property types including military buildings, residences, streetscapes, irrigation systems, and more. She believes that thoughtful design is a key ingredient in historic preservation.

M E ET TH E J U RO R S | STU D E NT CATEG O R I E S

76

J E N N I F E R C A M P, A I A ( A I A H O N O L U L U ) P R I N C I PA L , H I • A R C H •Y L L P

K Y L E H A M A DA , A S S O C I AT E P R I N C I PA L , U R BAN WO R KS , I N C .

Jennifer’s passion for architecture and design was instilled in her at a very young age; as design, architecture, and engineering has been in her family for four generations. As a principal of hi•arch•y llp, Mrs. Camp brings over 25 years of experience to the team. She has extensive leadership experience in education and mixed-use projects locally on Oahu and in LA. Mrs. Camp is a board member and president of NAIOP Hawaii.

She volunteers her time with non-profit organizations focused on sustainability and workplace satisfaction and safety. She is also a founding member of Hawaii Healthy Building Experts.

Kyle is an associate principal at Urban Works, Inc. In his 30 year architectural career he has worked on a variety of project types, including educational (PK−12 + higher ed), civic & public, health care, infrastructure, hospitality and residential. Kyle has led or was a member of several projects that have been recognized by AIA Honolulu design awards. Incidentally to this years student design program, while he was a student at the University of Hawai ‘i SOA, his senior studio project received an AIA Honolulu student design award.

Kyle is currently a visiting critique at the UHM SOA and has previously held studio design instructor and adjunct assitant professor positions at the school.

THE AME RI CAN I N ST IT U T E OF A RC H IT ECTS | H ON OLU LU CHAPT E R

DEIRDRE STEARNS , AIA (AIA HONOLULU) A S S O C I AT E A N D D I R E C T O R O F S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y, A H L

Deirdre is a licensed architect in Hawai‘i and California. She is a graduate of the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, receiving her Doctor of Architecture in 2008. Deirdre has over fourteen years of experience in retail and mixed-use design. Her projects have taken her all over the world, most notably when she lived and worked in The Netherlands. This experience gave her unique perspectives on the practice of architecture and design. Deirdre returned to Hawai‘i in 2016 and is currently an Associate and Director of Sustainability at AHL.

A S PEC I A L PU B L I CAT I O N O F A I A H O N O LU LU

PROJ E C T CATEG O R I E S

AWA R D O F E XC E L L E N C E

Projects are submitted and judged in one of our seven categories.

The number of projects awarded in each category and the award level (Excellence, Merit, Honorable Mention) shall be determined by the jury.

AWA R D O F M E R I T

Requires consensus from the jury that a project is deserving for a high quality of work overall.

Granted to projects which display a high standard of architectural quality and design.

HONORABLE MENTION

Responds to notable achievements in one or more particular project aspects; area(s) that stood out, as agreed through consensus by the jury.

RESIDENTIAL

Completed projects including single-family residential; multi-family residential; residential housing community planning; and residential renovations, additions and historic preservation. Residential projects of various sizes and scope are welcome as long as the project involved substantial exterior alterations.

COMMERCIAL/INDUSTRIAL

Completed projects including public and private developments of a commercial nature comprising retail, industrial, manufacturing, and hospitality. Commercial renovations, historic preservation, adaptive reuse as well as new construction projects are eligible.

INSTITUTIONAL

and private developments of an institutional nature; K-12 and higher education; recreational facilities/parks, hospitals and medical facilities and utilities.

INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE

Completed projects involving substantial interior and minimal exterior alterations. Examples of projects falling in this category are, but not limited to, tenant improvements and new tenant spaces within an existing (or by others and/or previously completed) exterior shell/space. Also includes residential interior renovations with minimal exterior improvement.

U N B U I LT

Unbuilt entries may include any project that is either commissioned (client sponsored) or intended for construction, or purely theoretical work not intended for construction, submitted individually (by AIA or Assoc. AIA), as a team or firm. The jury will review and select entries in this category based on creativity, originality, power and potential of the ideas presented.

D I S T I N C T I V E D E TA I L

Created to honor individual building components and design features that on built projects until now may not have been recognized for overall achievement. Whether it be a prominent façade, a grand staircase, or a custom piece of furniture, the Distinctive Detail Award celebrates the craftmanship, attention to detail, and spirit of innovation expressed by architectural elements big and small.

C O M M U N I T Y I M PAC T AWA R D NEW FOR 2022!

Recognizes projects that are designed to remove barriers and burdens, physical or abstract, empowering and enabling people to gather, connect, live, and function to their highest potential, ultimately bringing a community together.

This award is unique in that it relies on the experiences of end users.

Entries need not have a high level of design aesthetic but must demonstrate significant social impact.

Completed projects including public

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Award Levels & Project Categories

Requires unanimous vote of the jury that a project excels in all aspects. Reserved for those projects which stand out from all of the meritorious award winners. This highest honor recognizes projects which are deemed to exemplify excellence of architectural design on all levels of analysis, and exemplify the highest standards to which AIA members aspire.

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AWA R D L E VE L S

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Mahalo to Our Sponsors C O C K TA I L S P O N S O R S

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PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWA R D S P O N S O R

A S PEC I A L PU B L I CAT I O N O F A I A H O N O LU LU

Architects can harness the power of design to contribute to solutions addressing the most significant needs of our time. New for 2022, every project submitted to the Design Awards described how the submission achieved one or more of these measures. Jury considerations include how the project aligns with the Framework for Design Excellence.

Measure 1

Measure 5

DESIGN FOR I NTEGRATION

DESIGN FOR ECONOMY

DESIGN FOR EQU ITABLE COM M U N ITI ES

Measure 6

DESIGN FOR E N E RGY

Measure 3

Measure 7

DESIGN FOR ECOSYSTE MS

DESIGN FOR WE LL- BE I NG

Measure 4

Measure 8

DESIGN FOR WATE R

DESIGN FOR RESOU RCES

DESIGN FOR CHANGE Measure 10

DESIGN FOR DISCOVE RY

Congratulations to all of the 2022 AIA Honolulu’s Annual Design Award Nominees!

Solomon Elementary School Campus Improvements | Wahiawa, HI

Turtle Bay Resort Hotel Renovations | Kahuku, HI

To discuss your next award-winning project, contact swinerton.com Summer Vaimaona, Business Development Representative, at: summer.vaimaona@swinerton.com 79 HO NO LU LU CHAPT E R | T HE AM E RI CAN I NST I T U T E O F ARCHI T ECTS

AIA Framework

Measure 2

Measure 9

A I A H O N O L U L U D E S I G N AWA R D S 2 O2 2

AIA FRAM EWORK FOR DESIGN EXCELLENCE

A S PEC I A L PU B L I CAT I O N O F A I A H O N O LU LU A I A H O N O L U L U D E S I G N AWA R D S 2 O2 2 Award of Excellence

AWARD OF EXCELLENCE INSTITUTIONAL

FIRM Urban Works, Inc. ADDITIONAL FIRMS WCP Inc. (Environmental Assessment), Ki Concepts (Landscape Architect); Sam O. Hirota, Inc. (Civil Engineer); Nagamine Okawa Engineers, Inc. (Structural Engineer); Interface Engineering, Inc. (MEP Engineer); Nash Architectural Solutions, LLC (Specifications); Lensa Consulting, LLC (HI CHPS); BRC Acoustics & Audiovisual Design (Acoustical Consultant); J. Uno & Associates (Construction Cost Consultant), Geolabs, Inc. (Geotechnical Engineer), Garcia and Associates (Archaeological Monitoring) CLIENT State Department of Education CONTR ACTOR Ralph S. Inouye Company LOCATION Honolulu, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i PHOTOS: KEVIN LOO-CHAN, AIA

80

Noelani Elementary School I.D.E.A. Center

“T

H E I . D. E . A . (I N N OVATE , DI SCOVE R , EXPLO R E , AN D ACH I EVE)

CE NTE R represents an op-

portunity for our students to become problem solvers through the use of our library, computer lab, and makerspace,” says Bryan Gusman, Principal of Noelani Elementary School.

THE AME RI CAN I N ST IT U T E OF A RC H IT ECTS | H ON OLU LU CHAPT E R

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The library’s clerestory windows provide daylight for young readers to enjoy Noelani’s substantial book collection from reading nook window seats; the makerspace is designed for gatherings and project-based learning.

“Our ambition was to design a contemporary building that was functional and f lexible for its users. An example is its placement on the campus to further define

the school’s main open space.

The covered walkway and entry lanai provide protection for parents enjoying the school’s annual May Day program while serving as a place for students to gather informally before and after school,” says Lorrin Matsunaga, AIA, Principal, Urban Works. The sawtooth roof supports sustainable water management and supplies school gardens.

Award of Excellence

“The I.D.E.A. Center exemplifies that clarity of planning, thoughtful programming, and an environmentally conscious relationship to site can result in a beautiful facility that will support the local community for decades to come. Careful attention to natural ventilation and daylight has resulted in inspiring and safe learning spaces that will undoubtedly inspire the design of learning spaces across Hawai‘i in the future.

This project is a case study in doing a lot with a tight budget.” — JU ROR S’ COM M EN T

“The I.D.E.A. Center embodies the best characteristics of elementary educational ideals; resourcefulness, practicality, sustainability, and most importantly, delight. This pleasingly utilitarian complex is full of surprises, including cozy reading nooks in the library and a practical building form with clerestory that bring in generous amounts of light and captures water for the garden.” — J U RO R S’ CO M M EN T

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“This project fulfills its promise of lightly touching the ground and deftly engaging its site context as a net-zero energy ship floating on its metaphorical sea of grass along the Hamakua Coastline of the Big Island.”

— J U RO R S’ CO M M ENT

Award of Excellence

Musubi House AWARD OF EXCELLENCE & HAWAI I HOME + REMODELING EDITOR’S CHOICE AWARD RESIDENTIAL

FIRM Craig Steely Architecture CLIENT Guy and Stacy Brand CONTR ACTOR Kauhale Kilohana

Builders

LOCATION Pa‘auilo, Hawai‘i

Island, Hawai‘i

PHOTOS: DARREN BRADLEY PHOTOGRAPHY

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H E M U SU B I H OU S E I S NAM E D FO R ITS R E S E M B L AN CE I N

PL AN TO TH E B E LOVE D FOO D. Located on 100 acres

of remote grassland and ‘ōhi‘a forest along the northeast slope of Mauna Kea on Hawai‘i Island, its curving concrete walls designate the house’s three zones: bedroom/bathing, kitchen,

and work/living. A triangle shaped atrium provides an outdoor room between zones with a cut Pahoehoe lava floor. Spaces flow through zones while maintaining visual contact with the rolling landscape.

“We strove for the highest standard in design as well as energy responsibility,” says architect Craig Steely, AIA of Craig Steely Architecture. “Equal thought went

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into creating inspiration and delight in the architecture as detailing an elegantly robust system for energy creation and storage.” The single family home is net-zero: operating off-grid, it’s completely self-sufficient, powered by an advanced photovoltaic panel and battery storage system with all domestic and landscape water harvested, filtered, and stored for use.

A S PEC I A L PU B L I CAT I O N O F A I A H O N O LU LU A I A H O N O L U L U D E S I G N AWA R D S 2 O2 2 Award of Excellence

“Musubi House exhibits an exuberant pragmatism in a refreshingly modest footprint. The clever floorplan acknowledges the climatic challenges of the site while creating dynamic living spaces for inhabitants. The strikingly simple lines of the structure simultaneously stand out against the landscape while sitting lightly in it.” — JURORS’ COMM E NT

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AWARD OF M ERIT INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE FIRM Ferraro Choi And

Associates Ltd

ADDITIONAL DESIGN FIRMS

Osaki Creative Group; WSP Hawaii Inc. CLIENT HEMIC CONTR ACTOR Jay Kadowaki Inc. LOCATION Honolulu, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i PHOTO: H!MEDIACREATIVE

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Hawaii Employer’s Mutual Insurance Company (HEMIC) Tower Renovation

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U I D E D B Y T H E H AWA I I A N W O R D “ K U P U A‘ E ” ( T O G R OW F O R T H ) ,

HEMIC renovated an existing downtown office building to meet the economic, social, and cultural needs of their clients and employees, whose well-being factored into every design decision. Inspired by Honolulu’s ahupua‘a, the lobby utilizes reclaimed structural beams from Ward Warehouse. The heart of the office is the second floor multi-purpose gathering hub with a kitchenette, open

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dining, balconies, spaces for wellness and nursing, collaboration, training, and meeting rooms. The basement recreation room enables staff to unwind and shower after exercising or biking to work.

“This renovation skillfully crafts each workspace, resulting in a thought-out layout, creative use of materials, and provides innovative design specifically suited to the needs of HEMIC’s employees.” — JURORS’ COMMENT

A S PEC I A L PU B L I CAT I O N O F A I A H O N O LU LU A I A H O N O L U L U D E S I G N AWA R D S 2 O2 2 Award of Merit + Hawai‘i Energy Award

AWARD OF M ERIT + HAWAI I EN ERGY AWARD FOR ENERGYEFFICIENT DESIGN INSTITUTIONAL FIRM Design Partners

Incorporated

ADDITIONAL DESIGN FIRMS

PBR Hawaii & Associates, Inc. (Landscape Architect); Shigemura, Lau, Sakanashi, Higuchi & Associates, Inc. (Structural Engineers) CLIENT Punahou School CONTR ACTOR Nordic PCL Construction Inc. LOCATION Honolulu, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i PHOTO: PUNAHOU SCHOOL; DESIGN PARTNERS INCORPORATED; DOUGLAS PEEBLES A B O U T T H E H AWA I ‘ I E N E R GY AWA R D F O R E N E R GY- E F F I C I E N T D E S I G N The Hawaii Energy Award

recognizes buildings that help Hawai‘i toward our 100% clean energy goals by incorporating energy efficiency as a foundational value.

Punahou School, Sidney and Minnie Kosasa Community for Grades 2-5

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H E S I D N E Y A N D M I N N I E KO S A S A

Community for Grades 2-5 creates an educational neighborhood that represents Punahou’s commitment to sustainability, progressive educational pedagogy and mission for a collaborative, cultivating environment. With 28 studio classrooms, a music and art center, K-8 learning commons, and a technology center with creative learning centers, administrative offices and multi-purpose/central commons, there is experiential movement

throughout the spaces. The Hawaiian notion of ahupua‘a serves as the project’s conceptual and physical framework. The design supports inquiry-based learning in spaces that allow students to discover their own relationship to nature and the environment, inspiring a green future.

“An impressive collection of buildings and site features provides what can only be a pleasing, meandering experience where young students can explore and learn.”

— JURORS’ COMMENT

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The Kobayashi & Kosasa Family Dining Room at Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women and Children

AWARD OF M ERIT INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE FIRM Peter Vincent Architects CLIENT Hawai‘i Pacific Health CONTR ACTOR Constructors

Hawaii Inc. LOCATION Honolulu, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i

PHOTO: ANDREA BRIZZI PHOTOGRAPHY

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H E KO B AYA S H I & KO S A S A FA M I LY D I N I N G R O O M provides a place of

respite, rejuvenation, and nourishment. The space is designed for mental and social well-being, effectively maximizing natural light, the highest level of indoor air quality, and acoustical mitigation through soffit clouds.

Varied seating options create welcoming spaces. The lanai provides relief from the medical center’s cold temperatures with additional natural light. The Keiki Zone’s ocean-themed interactive flooring creates a fun play area. The high exposed ceiling

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is painted ‘sky’ blue to brighten the space.

The design supports mental, emotional, and physical health for patients, families, staff, and the community.

“This vivid dining room delivers an experience so engaging and dynamic it seems to transport guests to another place. Entered through an appealing ‘mauka’ bamboo forest, the dining room opens into a vast, makai cobalt aquaria.

This fantasy environment provides parents and children a much welcome escape from hospital realities.” — JURORS’ COMMENT

A S PEC I A L PU B L I CAT I O N O F A I A H O N O LU LU A I A H O N O L U L U D E S I G N AWA R D S 2 O2 2 Award of Merit

AWARD OF M ERIT + PEOPLE ’S CHOICE AWARD COMMERCIAL/INDUSTRIAL FIRM WCIT Architecture, Inc. ADDITIONAL DESIGN FIRMS

Dianna Wong (Interior Design); McCelvey Associates (Landscape Architect) CLIENT BRE Hotels & Resorts CONTR ACTOR Albert C. Kobayashi, Inc. LOCATION Kahuku, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i PHOTO: OLIVIER KONING ABOUT THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWA R D The People’s Choice Award

is selected following a two-week online voting process that is open to AIA members and the public at large.

Turtle Bay Resort

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ET ON 1,300 OCEANFRONT AC R E S , Turtle Bay Resort im-

merses visitors in its stunning landscape, nestled alongside five miles of coastline with secluded beaches, world-famous surf breaks, and a working farm on the North Shore.

The light-filled lobby provides awe-inspiring sunrise and sunset views. Windows and door selections utilize high performance glazing and are hurricane resistant.

New mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems are energy efficient and low flow.

The green planted roof over the lobby and restaurant provides a natural habitat for birds and insects, additional thermal insulation, and stormwater management.

“This successful adaptive re-use of the 1970s Turtle Bay hotel complex is a radical transformation of program, parti and user flow that breathes new life into an iconic property while infusing a distinctively fresh sense of place and identity that will serve the hotel well for years to come.”

— JURORS’ COMMENT

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Waialua Retreat

AWARD OF M ERIT RESIDENTIAL FIRM Tadpole Studio PHOTO: AARON YOSHINO RENDERING: MY TRAN

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H E WA I A L U A R E T R E AT WA S D E S I G N E D F O R A C O U P L E and their

three young children in rural O‘ahu, near historic Hale‘iwa.

The cabin is off-grid: an existing well provides water and sewage goes into a septic tank and leach field. With roof overhangs for sun protection, sliding barn doors, and windows for cross ventilation, the cabin’s energy needs are met by two solar panels. The structure’s location estab-

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lishes visual connections to the stream and nearby Mount Ka‘ala while taking advantage of existing banyan tree shade. Raised in case of floods and to facilitate natural cooling, an ADA ramp offers accessibility.

“The cabin’s off-grid, elevated and temporary characteristics give a feeling of levity and playfulness, a place for contemplation and a threshold into the wilderness.” — JURORS’ COMMENT

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The Salvation Army Kroc Center Hawai‘i NEW FOR 202 2!

COMM U N ITY IM PACT AWARD COMMUNIT Y IMPACT FIRM G70 CLIENT The Salvation Army CONTR ACTOR Hawaiian Dredging

Construction Co. LOCATION ‘Ewa Beach, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i

PHOTO: DAVID FRANZEN PHOTOGRAPHY; THE SALVATION ARMY

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O C AT E D O N 1 5 AC R E S I N K A P O L E I ,

the 120,000 SF Kroc Community Center is the largest facility of its kind in Hawai‘i, creating indoor and outdoor recreational spaces.

Built on undeveloped land, reaching the site during construction required passing through cantaloupe patches. The complex includes many components: administrative offices, a conference and education center, a classroom complex, a pre-K school, a pool and athletic complex, and a gymnasium.

Sheryl B. Seaman, AIA, IIDA, LEED AP, Vice Chair, Principal at G70, the firm that designed the project, says, “The center provides many programs and opportunities for multi-generations to come together to learn and play in a safe, accepting, and supportive place.”

Philanthropist Joan Kroc awarded a grant to the Leeward Corp of the Salvation Army for its construction. “Joan Kroc wanted the Kroc Centers to provide state of the art facilities in underserved communities and that is the essence of Kroc Center Hawai‘i,” says Seaman.

“With this project, the Salvation Army has provided the community with a brand new beginning. The Kroc Center allows community members to join one another in pursuit of a healthy lifestyle, exercise, camaraderie within a well-designed, playful community playground. O‘ahu neighborhoods have always been connected by people, but few have such impressive elaborate community centers – this is a real gift to the community.”

— JURORS’ COMMENT

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‘Iolani School Kaneshiro Science & Innovation Center / Sidney and Minnie Kosasa Performance Studios HONORABLE M ENTION INSTITUTIONAL FIRM G70 CLIENT ‘Iolani School

Honorable Mention

CONTR ACTOR Allied Builders

System

LOCATION

Honolulu, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i PHOTO: MARIKO REED

“These labs and studios shine with an appealing mix of materials and colors, and the expansive fenestration draws generous natural light into the learning spaces.” —JURORS’ COMMENT

The labs and studios embrace a community-driven design layered with biophilic experiences. Students in grades K-6 are offered opportunities to find and cultivate their love for the sciences and performing arts.

University of Hawai‘i Life Sciences Building MAYOR’S CHOICE AWARD INSTITUTIONAL FIRM G70 CLIENT University of Hawai‘i CONTR ACTOR Layton

Construction Company, LLC

LOCATION

Honolulu, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i PHOTO: OLIVIER KONING

“Sustainable, efficient and flexible design solution that meets the ever changing research and teaching needs.

Bravo!” —MAYOR RICK This new state of the art research and instruction facility brings Biology, Microbiology, Botany, and the Pacific Biosciences Research Center under one roof to promote interdisciplinary collaboration. The building is LEED Silver certified, mitigating the intense energy needs of laboratories through efficient systems, daylight and views, native landscaping, and low maintenance costs.

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BLANGIARDI A B O U T T H E M AYO R ’ S C H O I C E AWA R D The Mayor’s Choice Award

was selected by Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi from among all the entries.

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Mauka Concourse USGBC HAWAI I SUSTAINABILITY AWARD COMMERCIAL/INDUSTRIAL FIRM KYA Inc.

Sustainability Award

ADDITIONAL DESIGN FIRMS

HOK (Pre-concept Consultant) CLIENT State of Hawai‘i Department of Transportation Airports Division CONTR ACTOR Hensel Phelps LOCATION

Honolulu, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i PHOTO: KYA INC.; ROGER OSENTOSKI; ANDREA BRIZZI PHOTOGRAPHY

A B O U T T H E U S G B C H AWA I ‘ I S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y AWA R D In

The Mauka Concourse is the first major expansion improvement to HNL Airport in almost three decades. Integrated design for structural and mechanical systems earned the project LEED Gold certification, one of eight terminals in the nation to achieve this standard.

collaboration with U.S. Green Building Council Hawaii Chapter, this award recognizes projects for their integration of design excellence with environmental performance.

Need to find a professional?

Let the Hawaii Home + Remodeling Resource Guide be your source for all your home needs. Search the online directory for listings in 37 categories. www.hawaiihomemag.com/2022-resource-guide HO NO LU LU CHAPT E R | T HE AM E RI CAN I NST I T U T E O F ARCHI T ECTS

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CONGRATULATIONS! PUNAHOU SCHOOL SIDNEY AND MINNIE KOSASA COMMUNITY FOR GRADES 2 – 5 Special thanks to Punahou School and the design team NORDIC PCL CONSTRUCTION PBR HAWAII & ASSOC. INC SAM O. HIROTA, INC. SHIGEMURA LAU SAKANASHI HIGUCHI & ASSOC. INSYNERGY ENGINEERING, INC RONALD N.S. HO & ASSOC. INC

The Joy of Discovery

ARCHITECTURE

INTERIORS

CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

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STUDENT DESIGN AWARDS Reestablished in 2016, the Student Design Awards were created to honor student achievements in the design studio and provide a forum for student design excellence to be celebrated beyond the academic setting.

Student Awards

Hoà Hai Worker Housing AWARD OF EXCELLENCE GRADUATE STUDENTS Logan Aruga,

Kenneth Guillen, Bryson Tabaniag, Austin Tse SCHOOL University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa School of Architecture The three main goals tackled by this project were 1) Community, 2) Affordability, 3) Adaptability.

Wiki Hale AWARD OF EXCELLENCE UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS Toby Baladad,

An affordable, quick to assemble, and easy to deploy emergency structure for post disaster shelter.

Jasmyn Carlos, Demetrio Castillo, Bethney de la Torre, Gemma Halim, Noreen Ibana, Frank Jiang, Karolyn Jones, Brandon Keene, Rianna-Destri Lee, Angelie Mae Mariano, D’Elle Martin, Morgan Ohashi, Katelen Orquia, Ty Taguchi, Perscilla Tovar, William Von Seggern SCHOOL University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa School of Architecture

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HONORABLE M ENTION

HONORABLE M ENTION

GRADUATE

UNDERGRADUATE

Student Awards

Pa‘akai - Mixed-Use Residential Complex STUDENTS Chad Bolte, Kaylen Daquioag, Kaimana Tuazon,

Kewalo (Nature) Preserve

Hunter Wells

STUDENT Herman Lau

SCHOOL University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa School of Architecture

SCHOOL University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa School of Architecture

HONORABLE M ENTION

PEOPLE ’S CHOICE AWARDS

UNDERGRADUATE

UNDERGRADUATE

Ola Hou Youth Center

Zero Waste Center

STUDENT Desiree Joy Malabed

STUDENT Thanh Nguyen

SCHOOL University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa School of Architecture

SCHOOL University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa School of Architecture

STUDENT DISTINGUISHED ENTRANTS

GRADUATE

Home STUDENTS Jayson Abeshima,

B. Keolamaka‘i Annino, Nicole Bowman, Natasha Keshishian, Diana Rogova SCHOOL University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa School of Architecture

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UNDERGRADUATE

A(w)rising STUDENT Dean Matsumura SCHOOL University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa School of Architecture

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UNDERGRADUATE

Kālia Coastline Boardwalk STUDENT Airon Castaneda SCHOOL University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa School of Architecture

Congratulations

to the 2022 AIA Honolulu Design Awardees

CREATING HOPE FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS

ARCHITECTURE // CIVIL ENGINEERING // INTERIOR DESIGN // PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT

G70.DESIGN

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DISTINGUISHED ENTRANTS

COMMERCIAL/INDUSTRIAL COMMERCIAL/INDUSTRIAL

Huihui Restaurant and Bar

AC Hotel by Marriott Maui Wailea

FIRM FSC Architects ADDITIONAL DESIGN FIRMS Philpotts Interiors

Distinguished Entrants

FIRM AHL ADDITIONAL DESIGN FIRMS AXIS/GFA (Concep-

tual Design); SANDdesign (Interior Design)

CLIENT Dauntless Capital CONTR ACTOR RD Olson Construction LOCATION Wailea, Maui, Hawai‘i PHOTO: ANDREA BRIZZI PHOTOGRAPHY

(Interior Design); PBR Hawaii (Landscape Architecture) CLIENT KBHL, LLC CONTR ACTOR Swinerton Builders LOCATION Lahaina, Maui, Hawai‘i

PHOTO: DAVID MURPHEY PHOTOGRAPHY; MAUI TOTAL VISUAL; FSC ARCHITECTS

COMMERCIAL/INDUSTRIAL

KOA Federal Inspection Services Building FIRM KYA Inc. CLIENT State of Hawai‘i Department of Transportation - Airports Division CONTR ACTOR Nan, Inc. LOCATION Kailua-Kona, Hawai‘i Island, Hawai‘i PHOTO: KYA INC.; ROGER OSENTOSKI; ANDREA BRIZZI PHOTOGRAPHY

INSTITUTIONAL

COMMERCIAL/INDUSTRIAL

Mālama Market Pāhoa FIRM G70 CLIENT The Sullivan Family of Companies CONTR ACTOR Nan Inc. LOCATION Pāhoa, Hawai‘i Island, Hawai‘i PHOTO: LINNY MORRIS PHOTOGRAPHY

Brigham Young University Hawai‘i Science Building FIRM AHL CLIENT Brigham Young University - Hawai‘i CONTR ACTOR Okland Construction LOCATION Lā‘ie, O’ahu, Hawai‘i PHOTO: ANDREA BRIZZI PHOTOGRAPHY; MA X KIM

INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE

Elemental Excelerator INSTITUTIONAL

Solomon Elementary School FIRM Mitsunaga & Associates, Inc. CLIENT State of Hawai‘i Department of Education CONTR ACTOR Swinerton Builders LOCATION Wahiawā, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i PHOTO: THOMAS SWAN

DISTINCTIVE DETAIL

FIRM Dean Sakamoto Architects, LLC ADDITIONAL DESIGN FIRMS Inatsuka Engineering

INSTITUTIONAL

Waikoloa Middle School Classroom Building FIRM WRNS Studio CLIENT State of Hawai‘i Department of Education CONTR ACTOR Nan Inc. LOCATION Waikoloa, Hawai‘i Island, Hawai‘i PHOTO: ANDREW RICHARD HARA

PHOTO: ANDREA BRIZZI PHOTOGRAPHY

DISTINCTIVE DETAIL

Modular GrowPods Details for Urban Farming

Punahou School, Sidney and Minnie Kosasa Community for Grades 2 – 5, Hale Ka‘aumoana Outdoor Learning Center

FIRM OMIZU Architecture Inc. ADDITIONAL DESIGN FIRMS Mechanical

FIRM Design Partners Incorporated ADDITIONAL DESIGN FIRMS PBR Hawaii &

Engineers of Hawaii Corporation (Mechanical Engineering); Bowers + Kubota Consulting (Electrical Engineering) CLIENT MetroGrow Hawaii LOCATION Honolulu, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i

Associates, Inc. (Landscape Architects); Shigemura, Lau, Sakanashi, Higuchi & Associates, Inc (Structural Engineers) CLIENT Punahou School LOCATION Honolulu, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i

PHOTO: ADAM TAYLOR PHOTOGRAPHY

PHOTO: PUNAHOU SCHOOL; DOUGLAS PEEBLES

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(Mechanical, Electrical & Plumbing Engineering); The Vanguard Theory (Interior Design) CLIENT Elemental Excelerator CONTR ACTOR J. Kadowaki, Inc.; The Albizia Project (millwork) LOCATION Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawai‘i

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RESIDENTIAL

Luala‘i FIRM Peter Vincent Architects ADDITIONAL DESIGN FIRMS Surfacedesign, Inc.

(Landscape Architecture) CONTR ACTOR MNM Construction LOCATION O‘ahu, Hawai‘i

PHOTO: KYLE ROTHENBORG; MARION BRENNER PHOTOGRAPHY

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RESIDENTIAL

Suburban Single Family Residence Reinvention FIRM Osvaldo Brighenti Architect ADDITIONAL DESIGN FIRMS Bahman Kheradpy

UNBUILT

Victoria Place K-12 Student Center for Confidential Client Commissioned Work to be Built FIRM AHL LOCATION Honolulu, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i

Commissioned Work to be Built FIRM Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB) ADDITIONAL DESIGN FIRMS Tihany Designs (Interior Design) CLIENT Howard Hughes Corporation LOCATION Honolulu, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i

PHOTO: PANAVIZ

RENDERING: AHL

RENDERING: MAQE RENDERINGS, LLC; BINYAN STUDIOS

UNBUILT

Envisioning Sea Level Rise Adaptation Strategies in Waikīkī, HI Non-Commissioned Theoretical Work FIRM University of Hawai‘i (UH) School of Architecture Environmental Research and Design Laboratory; Hawaii Sea Grant Center for Smart Building and Community Design; UH School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology; Principal Investigator (PI): Wendy Meguro, AIA, LEED AP BD+C; Co-PI: Chip Fletcher, PhD; Graduate Research Assistants: Ireland Castillo, Josephine Briones; Outreach Coordinators: Eileen Peppard, Melanie Lander LOCATION Honolulu, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i UNBUILT

Congratulations To All The Winners!

VI EW I N FORMATION ABOUT ALL SU BM ISSIONS H E RE W W W. AIAHONOLULU.ORG/PAGE/ DESIGNAWARDS202 2

RENDERING: IREL AND CASTILLO AND JOSEPHINE BRIONES, GRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANTS, UH SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND SEA GRANT; TUTORS: CHRISTOPHER LOMBOY AND ANDREW TANG

CONGRATULATIONS! To all the 2022 Honolulu Design Awards participants and students – the next generation of architects.

PACIFIC ARCHITECTS and DM PACIFIC Dwight Mitsunaga, FAIA, ArchD, NCARB, G.C.

Pacific Architects, Inc. 2020 S. King Street Honolulu, HI 96826 www.pacarchitects.com HO NO LU LU CHAPT E R | T HE AM E RI CAN I NST I T U T E O F ARCHI T ECTS

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Distinguished Entrants

(Structural Engineer); MCYIA Interior Architecture & Design (Interior Design) CLIENT Joseph A. Bobich CONTR ACTOR Intero Group Hawaii LOCATION Kapolei, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i

PA R T I N G

S H O T

The Look and Feel of Old Honolulu

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SEPTEMBER 2022

TIME: 8:00 A.M.

LOCATION: 550 HALEKAUWILA ST, HONOLULU

Collectors Kevin Faller, Chester Sebastian and Kevin Sebastian (left to right) opened Old Queen Street Stadium nine months ago to showcase sports memorabilia and what Faller calls the “hall of fame of fabrics and textures of Hawai‘i.”

He says vintage aloha work shirts are a centerpiece of this “community museum” on Halekauwila Street, which rents, trades and sells select items. But visitors often gravitate to the sports treasures, such as UH bomber jackets in shiny Kelly green.

One elderly visitor let them display his rare Hawaiians jersey,

PHOTOGRAPHER: AARON YOSHINO

which was a pro football team that played in 1974 and 1975.

The name “Old Queen Street Stadium” is an amalgamation of a pop-up store that Faller ran at an uncle’s Queen Street restaurant and the Honolulu Stadium in Mō‘ili‘ili, demolished in 1976, which was the “epicenter of old Honolulu culture.”

Faller says they try to capture that history through clothing and stories. “One of our success indicators is when someone comes back with their keiki or grandparents.” instagram.com/oldqueenstreetstadium/

SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL SECTION

Making Hawaiian Culture a Conversation and a Way of Life A K E A L A K E H E C O M M U N I T Y C E N T E R I S M A K I N G N A T I V E H AWA I I A N C U LT U R A L PR AC TIC ES ACC ESSIBLE TO ALL WITH THE ‘OL A K A L ĀHUI E VE NT SE RIES .

Native Hawaiian navigators Chad “Onohi” Paishon and Pomai Bertelmann at a recent ‘Ola ka Lāhui event in June.

Photo: Michelle Mishina

O

on Hawai‘i Island.

“We’ve come to realize that the KO N A , a few dozen people success of the canoes is directly related to have gathered under an open pavilion the success of our community,” Paishon to hear something special: Longtime says. “These things are not a metaphor for Native Hawaiian navigators Chad “Onus. If we can feed 16 people on the deck of ohi” Paishon and Pomai a canoe for a month, and Bertelmann sharing their “These programs have them healthy and thoughts and experiencthriving, why can’t we put reinvest into es gained over decades people and place, these foods in our house of sailing on traditional and feed our families?” which are the two vessels, including the This conversation is most valued and part of the event series original Hōkūle‘a. special things that ‘Ola ka Lāhui (The NaFrom hearing about their early childhood tion Lives On), put on by make Hawai‘i experiences to hearing La‘i‘ōpua 2020, a comHawai‘i.” a performance of “Wa‘a munity center in the Ke K Ē H A U M E Y E R , H AWA I ‘ I Kaulua,” a mele written alakehe Hawaiian Home C O M M U N I T Y F O U N D AT I O N for the Hōkūle‘a’s maiden Lands of Kailua-Kona voyage in 1976, the audiled by executive director ence is rapt. Paishon tells Kawehi Inaba. Each event the story of their 2019 voyage on the features Native Hawaiian cultural Makali‘i, in which they were able to sail practitioners sharing their expertise, from Hawai‘i Island to the Northwestand attendees can also participate in ern Islands of Papahānaumokuākea and a range of traditional activities such back, provisioned only with food grown as lei making, lauhala weaving, and N A S U M M E R S AT U R D AY

AF TE RNOON I N K AI LUA

pounding pa‘i ‘ai (undiluted taro).

La‘i‘ōpua project director Tamar deFries says the series is intended to share and celebrate the best of Native Hawaiian expertise in a direct, personal way, not only with other Hawaiians but with the larger community and visitors. “We all have gifts and talents, whether it’s navigating a canoe, or drying aku as a fisherman,” she says.

“Through these talk story sessions, we have a space to share and be a part of this in our own unique way.”

The ‘Ola ka Lāhui event series is being funded by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority through its Kūkulu Ola: Living Hawaiian Culture Program, supporting Island programs that perpetuate Hawaiian culture and community.

Kēhau Meyer of the Hawai‘i Community Foundation, which administers the Kūkulu Ola program, says, “There’s intrinsic value in investing in indigenous practices, and supporting cultural practitioners as essential members of our community. These programs reinvest into people and place, which are the two most valued and special things that make Hawai‘i Hawai‘i.”

One of the goals of ‘Ola ka Lāhui, deFries says, is to evolve away from the old model of performer/audience.

“Events like this create a personal, meaningful relationship,” she says. “When you look around at the audience, there are Native Hawaiians, there are locals and there are visitors, getting a chance to see this from this intimate perspective. It’s a whole different lens.”

T O G E T T H E L AT E S T I N F O O N T H E ‘ O L A K A L Ā H U I E V E N T S E R I E S , A N D L E A R N M O R E A B O U T L A‘ I ‘Ō P UA , V I S I T L A I O P U A . O R G/O L A  K A  L A H U I .

Introducing our ‘Ohana Class The new M/V George III and M/V Janet Marie will mark three generations of service to Hawaii, while representing the most technologically advanced and environmentally friendly vessels to serve the Hawaii/Mainland trade lane. Both vessels will operate fully on natural gas from day one in service, surpassing the International Maritime Organization (IMO) 2030 emission standards for ocean vessels.