Senior Living High-Rise in Honolulu Nears Completion

By Adriana Pop, Associate Editor

Kalakaua Garden, the 17-floor senior living community currently rising near Ala Moana Center at the entrance to Waikiki, is set to open its doors to tenants in March.

Kalakaua Gardens in Honolulu

The $75 million project will be managed by Avalon Healthcare, a group that also runs Avalon Care Center and Hale Nani Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, both of which are located in Honolulu, as well as Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home in Hilo.

Island Paradise Investments of San Francisco is developing the high-rise at 1723 Kalakaua Ave., across the street from the Convention Center. According to the Pacific Business News, the community will bring 164 independent and assisted living units, 49 skilled nursing beds and 23 memory care beds. Construction on the project began last fall.

By the time it opens, the facility will create between 150 and 200 jobs, including 20 management level positions, 80 in-care positions and 60 positions in dining, housekeeping and support staff.

What is special about this community is the fact that the skilled nursing component will be valuable for seniors when they need rehabilitation and occupational therapy in-house.

“In this setting, they’ll be able to go into skilled nursing, get the care they need, and go right back up to the floor they came from,” Kalakaua Gardens General Manager Steve Nawahine told the newspaper.

Furthermore, residents here will be able to enjoy family-style (ohana) living. According to Nawahine, “when elevators open you don’t see hallways, you see living and dining rooms where people are encouraged to live and be social with one another.”

The facility’s designer is Architects Hawaii Ltd., with San Francisco-based Swinerton Builders as the general contractor. Locally based Philpotts Interiors is in charge with interior design.