100% workforce housing project slated for Wailuku
Alaula Builders plans $66 million, 204-unit Kuikahi neighborhood
On the heels of a Maui County Council-backed workforce housing project in Kihei, local construction company Betsill Brothers is planning another 100 percent affordable development, this time in Wailuku.
A $66-million, 204-unit development is slated for nearly 15 acres off the mauka end of Kuikahi
Drive in
Wailuku. Designed as a mixed neighborhood, the project will comprise single-family, duplex, multifamily, live-work and tiny home units. A draft environmental assessment will be submitted in the next few months, and the project is about two to three years from having homes available, according to Doyle Betsill, Alaula Builders LLC president.
Alaula Builders LLC, a new Kahului-based development company, is the 100 percent affordable housing arm of Betsill Brothers, a longtime Maui construction company by Doyle and Dwayne Betsill.
Called Kuikahi, the new urban design development will have a live-work element at the center of the neighborhood. Based on a Kihei project where businesses can be found on the first floor and homes are located above, plans will offer ways for residents to create income, Doyle Betsill said.
“The idea is that even though it’s affordable, people can have a community service business in there, like a day care or their office, or they can even rent it out as an affordable rental unit to create some income,” he said. “That means more people will qualify for homes. We are trying to do some creative things to broaden our reach.”
Doyle Betsill said the Wailuku project would build diverse products, such as the roughly 450-square-foot tiny home geared toward empty nesters, single older people or a young person starting out.
“We’ve got a little bit of everything in this neighborhood,” he said.
Alaula Builders is also the developer of 100 percent affordable housing project Hale Kaiola on 3 acres off Ohukai Street and Kaiola Place in north Kihei.
The project will include 40 twoand three-bedroom units in 20 duplex buildings, with units ranging from 731 to 1,240 square feet and prices spanning $295,000 to $650,000, according to Maui County Council documents. With a 9-0 council vote in September, the project is the first to be approved under the county’s 2.97 affordable housing rules, which offer incentives and exemptions for developers of 100 percent residential workforce projects, Doyle Betsill said.
“For a housing project, that is pretty remarkable,” he said. “We had full support from the entire council on that project. We were thankful they recognized we were trying to fill a real need on the island.”
As part of the lengthy and comprehensive environmental assessment process, community input is key, Doyle Betsill said.
Cultural and historical information is being sought for the area, specifically input from lineal and cultural descendants with knowledge about Wailuku land fronting the west side of Kuikahi Drive from the water tank to the point opposite Kehalani Mauka Parkway, a news release said.
Kupuna and family with information about former cane lands between Wailuku and Waikapu, below Reservoir No.10 where the Iao-Wailuku and Everett Ditches end, should contact historical consultant Katherine Kama‘ema‘e Smith at 268-0787 or katsmith75@icloud.com. Others with information on property history or prehistory, especially of current or past cultural resources, sites or practices, are asked to contact Smith.
Information will be compiled in a cultural impact assessment study, to record, preserve and protect cultural resources, sites, beliefs and traditional practices associated with this property.