The Launiu, Ward Village
928 Ala Moana Blvd.
The Launiu is Howard Hughes latest project coming to the luxury master-plan neighborhood, Ward Village. The address for the project is 928 Ala Moana Blvd. in block 5 at the corner of Ala Moana Boulevard and Ward Avenue. Sales for this project started in early February 2024 with a friends and family round of buyers. The next phase of sales will be the owner-occupant phase, which is geared towards buyers who plan to live in the unit at closing. Buyers in this phase are required to sign an owner-occupant affidavit stating you will now sell or rent your unit for at least 365 days after closing.
Launiu will have 486 new residences in the building, this is including 90 homes in the podium. The podium will wrap around the parking structure of the building on the Ward ave and Ala Moana blvd side of the project. There will be studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom residences available in the building. No affordable housing units will be available in this project.
The Launiu Pricing
With prime first-row location in Ward Village, prices at The Launiu Ward Village are at a premium. One-bedroom units start from $956,000 for a 797 sqft unit on the 8th floor. A 40th floor penthouse unit one-bedroom will set you back roughly $1,185,000. The two-bedroom pricing starts at $2,200,000 (8th floor) and quickly goes up to $3,068,000 (40th floor) for a gorgeous 1,219 sqft residence with Diamond Head and Ocean views. There are two three-bedroom floor plans to choose from ranging from 1,600 - 1,700 sqft. The 00 residence which is the larger of the two floor plans commands a $500,000 premium over the 02 because it's ocean/Diamond Head corner that is the jewel of the building. The 02 ranges from $3,350,000 to $3,800,000 with the 00 going as higher as $4,400,000 for the 38th floor.
Studios are a very hot item in this project because until now, Howard Hughes has refrained from putting studios in their first row towers. There will be two different stacks (two-floor plan options) of studios in the main tower and another 80 studios in the podium. Pricing for studios starts at $700,000 and go up to $802,000.
Developer: Howard Hughes Corp
Architect: Arquitectonica
Landscape Architect: VITA
Interior Design: ODADA
Maintenance Fee: TBD
Status: Sales Started Feb 2024
Video Overview w/ Holden Lau
On the ground floor, you can expect just over 21,000 sqft of commercial space which includes retail, and other establishments of that nature along with a dedicated 17,500 sqft of restaurant space. There will be 16,000 sqft of open green space with meandering sidewalks and a lot of new landscaping providing shaded walkways.
Launiu is located on the first row, but it isn't quite considered an oceanfront parcel. I think because of this, we won't see a level of finish close to Kalae and Victoria Place and should expect something similar to Koula and The Park Ward Village.
Amenities
The amenity deck at The Launiu is located on the 7th floor of the building. below will be 5 levels of parking on top of a ground-floor residential lobby. Residents will have over 78,000 sqft of indoor/outdoor recreation space. No detailed plans for the amenity deck at Launiu have been released yet, though from preliminary drawings we can see a large pool, bbq cabanas, kid's pool, jacuzzis, fitness studio, and much more. One thing that I found interesting on the plans was an area on the amenity level called "hydrotherapy spa". I'm not exactly sure what that is, but if it makes it into the final product, it'll be a first for Ward Village.
Guest suites, which is a popular amenity, especially during the holidays, will also be available at The Launiu. These suites will be located in the podium and by the looks of the plans, they will be studio units. These guest suites are available on a nightly basis to the guests of residents. Prices range from $150 - $200 a night.
The Launiu Site Plan
Below you'll find the ground floor site plan for The Launiu. You can see there will be a large porte cochere which will make the pick-up and drop-off at The Launiu feel luxurious and grand. Residents will not have to go through this area to access the residential parking with a separate entrance located at the entrance to the porte cochere just off Auahi St. There will be a separate entrance further down Auahi St for commercial parking and loading.
The Residences
If you're dreaming of sitting out on your lanai sipping a cup of coffee over the morning paper or podcast, you're in luck! The Launiu has lanais on the east/Diamond Head facing side of the building but unfortunately, there are no lanais on the west/sunset-facing side of the building.
Floor Plan (Tower)
Below you'll find the floor plan for the building. As I mentioned before, these are very early drawings that are more for conceptual purposes so there are no detailed drawings of each floor plan. What we can see from the drawings are the rough sizes and number of bedrooms. Howard Hughes is sticking with putting a 3-bedroom floor plan in that prime corner location featuring the best views of the ocean and Diamond Head. They've now gone with this on every single market rate building except Aalii which doesn't feature any 3-bedroom floor plan in the entire building.
There's a second 3-bedroom floor plan on the east-facing side with three 2-bedroom floor plans. There are no one-bedroom floor plans on the east-facing side with 4 one-bedroom options on the west (sunset) side of the project. There will be two studio floor plans on the west-facing side as well. On the ocean/sunset corner of the building, you'll have a two-bedroom floor plan which is really nice.
Floor Plan (Podium)
Below is the floor plan for the podium units at The Launiu. This similar design is used in many other projects in Ward Village and can also be seen across Kakaako. Developers add units to the podium to both improve the exterior aesthetic of the project and to add lower-priced, lower-floor units to the projects.
The floor plan for the podium is largely made up of studio units with 1 one-bedroom option and 2 two-bedroom floor plan options. There will also be guest suites available to residents and their guests with those guest suites located in the podium.
Will there be reserved housing / affordable housing at The Launiu?
No. Howard Hughes has laready satisifed the their 20% required reserved housing units for Launiu with the 697 reserved housing units available in Ulana Ward Village.
Can you Airbnb or use the unit for short-term rentals?
No. In Honolulu, the current minimum on rentals is 30 days. In the Kakaako neighborhood, which of course includes Ward Village, that minimum rental goes from 30 days to 180 days.
