Inside Kahuina New Condos In Honolulu: Living In Kakaʻako’s Hottest New Development

Our team had the opportunity to come to an exclusive VIP first look at a new condo development, Kahuina, featured in the R Kaka'ako development by Kamehameha Schools, and I'm excited to share a little bit about it with you guys today. Kahuina consists of two towers. The first is Lamaku. It's 43 floors. It does have one bedroom reserved HHFDC units, but it is primarily the market units. The second tower is Mamalu, and this one is going to be made up of entirely HHFDC units. Stay tuned for the one caveat to that when we talk about the first floor and the commercial that will be there. We're at the sales office now. Let's go check out the different models for kitchens and bathrooms in either tower. So this is what you can expect to see in your kitchen if you're looking in the Mamalu building. Stainless steel appliances, the cabinetry, the countertops are all set. So this is what you are going to have, a large sink. You're going to have your dishwasher, your fridge, your freezer, your stove, cooktop, and a microwave hood. This comes standard in all of the units in Mamalu. Let's talk about the size of the units. You're going to have one bedroom, two bedroom, or three bedroom options. Now the three bedroom options in Mamalu are the biggest you're ever going to find in an HHFDC. I think it's 1,075 square feet, so it's just under 1,100 square feet, which is massive for the style of units. The maintenance fees are going to be 91 cents per square foot. So you do the math, whatever the square footage of your unit is, 91 cents per square foot. So let's check out what the bathroom will look like in the Mamalu building. Okay, very clean, very modern, very straightforward. You're going to have a light colored cabinetry system, a tub. Yeah, I mean, it looks good. Some people think HHFDC, they hear the word affordable, and they think that it's going to look cheap. It's not. If you are in the Mamalu building, that means that you do need to qualify and meet specific criteria to purchase an HHFDC reserved housing unit. If you are confused about what those criteria might be, go to coreteamhawaii.com, scroll to the bottom, fill out the contact form, type in Kahuina or Mamalu. Let us know that you have questions about it so we can help you figure it out. There are income restrictions as well as owner occupancy requirements that do need to be met in order to qualify for these buildings. So make sure you call us to get all of those details. And let's talk about price points, since I know you're wondering. For Mamalu, for the HHFDC units, we're going to start at 600 for one bedrooms, 700 for two bedrooms, and 800 for three bedrooms. So pretty easy to remember, six, seven, eight, and that again is for the HHFDC units. So now we are going to check out the Lamaku kitchens, which are a little different. You're going to see a very similar aesthetic as you do in Mamalu, which just shows that Kahuina as a whole is going to have a uniform aesthetic, beautiful look about it. However, there are some slight differences. For instance, this is your hidden fridge and freezer. So it's, built in to look more like the cabinetry itself. This is one of those cool dishwashers for if you have people and you host all the time, because you can empty this top part out and turn it into a cooler. Just a little fun fact. This right here is a darker finish on the wood finishings of your cabinetry in the kitchen today. But when we take a step into what the bathrooms are going to look like in Lamaku, you're going to see a second option that you will have the choice to choose in your kitchen in your Lamaku market units. So we see a double vanity in this bathroom because this is actually a mock-up of what you're going to see in the primary or ensuite bathroom in the Lamaku units that are two or three bedrooms. Double vanity with the walk-in shower, and then the second bathroom in those units are going to have a tub. This is a lighter finish than what we just saw in the Lamaku kitchen. So this will be the only option for your color for the bathroom. However, if you did want to choose this color in your kitchen as well, you can. So the price points for the Lamaku market units are going to start at $700 for the one bedrooms, $900 for the two bedrooms, and $1.3 for the three bedrooms. Cool thing about Lamaku and something that a lot of people in Kaka'ako are missing and miss out on is that it does have exterior space. They do come with linais. So all units in Lamaku except for the second floor are going to have linais that you can enjoy, including the HHFDC units. Some of them are actually going to be special and have really big linais. So stay tuned as the development releases more information. Now that we've shown you the finer details of the Kahuina units in their sales office, we're going to take a trip down to Kaka'ako and do a little walk and talk. Talk about the amenities that they're going to have, projected build dates, other parts of our Kaka'ako that you may be familiar with, as well as just kind of lead into what that lifestyle is going to look like if you are a Kahuina resident. We are in Kaka'ako. This right here is going to be the block that has the future build for Kahuina. Kahuina is going to be split up into two towers like we mentioned. On the Mauka side, it's Maumalu. And then on the Makai side, the more ocean side, that's going to be Lamaku. So on the Maumalu, the Mauka side of Kahuina, we do have Mother Waldron Park. Now this is going to stay here. People already use this park all the time for hanging out, picnic style, come during, break between work at your lunch hour, bring your pets. That's the other thing. Kahuina is a pet friendly building. I believe it's going to be up to two dogs or two pets with a max weight of 50 pounds, which is quite big for a condo. So that's a major bonus for a lot of people. And though it's not going to have a designated dog park at the building, I mean, literally across the street is Mother Waldron Park. Pretty easy to get to. Again, our Kaka'ako is the development by Kamehameha Schools. Their vision for our Kaka'ako was kind of to help usher in or to nurture the revitalization of the community in Kaka'ako, bringing in sort of a new, more vibrant urban slash island creative lifestyle. If you spend any time in Kaka'ako, it's pretty easy to see that there is kind of a cool urban creativity in the community that you just don't really get anywhere else. We are on the street of Pohukaina and Cook Street. The main crossroads of Kahuina are going to be Pohukaina on the Mauka side, Cook Street here on the Diamond Head side, Awahi on the Makai side, and then Coral Street on the Ewa side of the building. Now it's kind of hard to imagine right now, but this is going to be completely transformed. So this is the site of Kahuina, across the street from Kahuina is going to be Waiakoa, which is going to be another build coming up in our Kaka'ako. This is going to actually turn into a 35-foot sidewalk setback. The one caveat that we kind of dropped a little nugget about earlier is 12 units on the bottom level are actually going to be live-work-loft units. The bottom level of Kahuina is going to actually consist of 35,000 square feet of commercial space. So we're talking cafes, we're talking little shops, and imagine now this is also going to be a 35-foot setback, not just on the Kahuina side of Cook Street, but also on the Waiakoa side of Cook Street. So this will be a different kind of energy funneled through here, a more vibrant sort of marketplace energy. Think the width of Kalakaua, but without like that Waikiki vibe. See those cranes in the background of where we're walking right now? Those are the cranes at the Ward Village Development. We are super close to that side now. Salt, our Kaka'ako, is more known for a lot of locally owned, smaller places like plant shops, breweries, little restaurants, little cafes. While Ward Village is really known to have big, sometimes international, very fancy places for date night, you can have the best of both worlds in literally minutes away from each other. This kind of cross-section is going to kind of house a lot of the cool commercial energy. So this area right here, we're going to have a new market. It's going to be all commercial spaces, and that market is going to be called Kuaimeki Market. Very, very exciting things to come, guys. Now the tentative plan for this is for Kahuina homeowners to be able to get their keys. Completion date is maybe end of 2028, but possibly beginning of 2029. Now keep in mind, new builds are always flexible when it comes to timeline. It really depends how the build goes. It is August 2025 right now. They are doing a soft opening, meaning you do need to have a private appointment. Kourteamhawaii.com. Fill out the contact form. Let us know you want to book a private appointment at the Kahuina sales office, and we would love to connect you and help you do that. So let's talk amenities. There will be a shared amenity deck for the two towers, and that's going to be on the 10th floor. That's going to be sitting on top of the nine floors of parking. So 10th floor is going to be the amenity deck, and we're going to have cabanas, pool, jacuzzi, recreational rooms. There's going to be a usable, reservable party room that can either be separated into smaller spaces or incorporated into a larger space. Now the cool thing about this amenity deck is it's going to rest on the parking structure, which is on the Maumalu side. However, they are now going to build a walking bridge from the Lamahu Tower on the 11th floor that will connect you down to the amenity deck. But this just in, Lamahu is now also going to have its own exclusive amenity area on the second floor. TBD, I don't know what all that's going to look like. That's a brand new development. Stay in touch with us and we'll keep you updated. So we're at the corner of Awahi and Coral Street, one of the main intersections bordering Kahuina, the future build of Kahuina. Right behind me, kind of kitty corner, is SALT. If you guys watch the channel, you've probably seen us hanging out at SALT before. Very, very popular gathering point in our Kaka'ako. But other elements of our Kaka'ako that you may already know, that building with the red and yellow 400 keawe, Keauhou Place, Keauhou Lane, this whole area is kind of already starting to revitalize. So phase one, this area here is kind of built out, and Kahuina is part of that next phase that's really going to just kind of tie the community together. No date yet as far as when they're going to break ground, but sales are going to be starting very soon. If you are interested in learning more about this development or with any other real estate needs in Hawaii or elsewhere, as always guys, go to the contact form at coreteamhawaii.com, fill it out, let us know what you're interested in, and our team will reach out and connect with you soon.