Drawdown in Afghanistan means more soldiers buying Oahu real estate

Friday, June 24th, 2011 at 3:56pm. 557 Views, 0 Comments.

The President announced this week that 10,000 troops will return home from Afghanistan by the end of this year, and another 23,000 by the end of next summer, a drawdown of the 30,000-troop surge he ordered to fight there in 2009.  

So 30,000 troops will return home from Afghanistan by next year, and that means that thousands of those soldiers from Schofield Army Barracks, Pearl/Hickam, and Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps Base will be returning to Hawaii.  And since there is already a wait list for homes on the military bases here, that means they and their families will have to rent or buy a house.  Either way, it's good for Oahu real estate. 

There is already a shortage of homes for sale on Oahu, and if even 200 more military families buy a house…

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New freeway offramp in Kapolei/Makakilo

Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 2:46pm. 828 Views, 0 Comments.

Earlier this week I drove by the new H1 freeway exit in Kapolei. I didn't think they were going to open that for a couple more months, but it is now open.  It allows people in Kapolei to get off earlier and releives some of the congestion at Fort Barrett. 

That's more good news for the West side, even as traffic in Ewa Beach is also moving much faster.  Now if we can just keep the new construction to a minimum, there won't be as much new traffic in the future.   

Now do we really still need a $5billion Rail ?  I say no, along with many others.  I bet if people on the West Side could vote now that they have seen the difference, the vote would be different.

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Dr Horton / Schuler Homes' project at Hoopili will ruin west Oahu.

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 at 3:23pm. 1659 Views, 0 Comments.

I hope I got your attention with that headline. Recently there has been a lot of talk about Dr Horton/Schuler's plans to build 12,000-15,000 more homes on the farmland between Ewa and Kapolei.

Their website says, "Ho'opili... is a master planned community that will connect Ewa Beach, Waipahu, Makakilo & Kapolei. Currently in the planning stages, Ho'opili will feature a mix of affordable & market rate homes with approximately 10,000 to 15,000 homes planned. This master planned community will feature schools, commercial centers and other community amenities."

Last week the Land Use commission voted 5-3 against the project, while residents in the area grow more and more opposed to it.

There are about 789 reasons that this project should never be built,…

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There is NO MORE TRAFFIC in Ewa Beach

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 8:41pm. 573 Views, 1 Comments.

I confirmed it again yesterday by driving to Ewa beach at 4pm. There is no more traffic there. The drive down Ft Weaver, which used to make me want to gouge out my eyes, is now a pleasant drive going about 35 mph the whole way. 

I have posted about this before but yesterday as I was driving back to my home on the East Side, I realized that the lack of traffic is now going to make the values in Ewa level out with the homes in Royal Kunia, Westloch, Makakilo, and Kapolei. 

Total drive time from my house to Ewa Beach at 4pm Monday = 40 minutes. 

Total time on Ft Weaver = under 10 minutes.

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Big new mall coming to Kapolei

Friday, June 19th, 2009 at 2:23pm. 1121 Views, 0 Comments.

Looks like we will getting a massive new shopping mall in Kapolei, which is West Oahu for those not familiar with the island.

Kapolei is where all the growth is happening in Oahu, with some massive home building to come in the next few years. There is going to be new contruction in Kapolei for the next 10 yrs. Construction is supposed to begin in late 2010 on the $500 million complex which will have a whopping 1.1 million square feet of commercial space, and 200,000 square feet each of hotel and office space.

The mall is going to be called Ka Makana and is supposed to create about 21,000 construction jobs over five years. Once completed, the whole complex is expected to create 4,000 to 5,000 jobs. The complex is going to have two towers for hotels and…

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Disney luxury resort Ko Olina to open in 2011

Thursday, June 18th, 2009 at 10:18pm. 1150 Views, 1 Comments.

The Disney resort is expected to open in 2011 and provide 1,000 jobs.  There are no plans for a theme park, too bad.  Ko Olina master developer Jeff Stone said, "it's a dream come true."

It will actually increase public access to the beaches at Ko Olina becayse this development will add parking.  There is hardly any parking at all over there.  This development should help in the larger plan of nurturing Kapolei as a secondary urban center, helping to create the true "second city."

Whenever new jobs come to Oahu, and national attention is brought to our island by a big name like Disney, it's sure to help the real estate market in Oahu. Particularly, in this case, the market in Ko Olina and Kapolei. With Kapolei so close and hundreds of properties at Ko…

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My alternative to Rail in Honolulu

Monday, June 8th, 2009 at 6:47pm. 563 Views, 0 Comments.

I have some ideas that I think would be a great alternative to rail or any other changes to the traffic problem. Since the city is collecting millions of dollars with the extra 0.5% GET for rail, why not use that money in these ways that would greatly reduce traffic and save our city billions of dollars by not building rail or new freeways.  Besides, we're never going to have enough money to fund the rail system anyway.

So here are my ideas, and the dollar amounts are just examples:

    * Give companies $50k/year in tax credits for each employee that they move from an office in Honolulu to one in Kapolei.
    * Companies with more than 10 employees could be paid $250k to move their company to Kapolei.
    * Give companies $50k (or so) per employee to…

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