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BUSINESS NEWS KAPOLEI, HI MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT, DESIGNED BY SVA ARCHITECTS, RECEIVES $80 MILLION IN BOND FUNDS: KULANA HALE BRINGS RETAIL AND MIXED-INCOME HOMES TO WEST OAHU’S CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT SVA Architects, Inc. announced that its Kapolei mixed-use project, Kulana Hale, received $80 million in bond funding from the Hawaii Housing Finance & Development Corporation for the project’s affordable components in August. The West Oahu project will bring approximately 300 new residences and 32,000 square feet of retail to the area. Kulana Hale is part of a recent rapid growth in Kapolei that has transformed the city into the central business district on West Oahu. SVA Architects finalized the design and is prepared to commence construction of phase one for Coastal Rim Properties, Inc. and Highridge Costa Development Company, LLC; the project broke ground in September. Located at 1020 Wakea Street, the three- acre Kulana Hale is bordered by Haumea, Wakea, Alohikea and Ala Kahawai Streets. The $130 million mixed-use project will consist of

three components developed in three phases. Phase one will be a 13-story tower with 154 affordable senior rental units and ground floor retail space. Phase two will add another 13-story tower with 143 family affordable units, as well as additional retail. Phase three will add a one-story retail building. Phase one of the project is expected to be complete by early 2020. Ernesto Vasquez, FAIA, CEO of SVA Architects, states, “This is a very exciting project that will help bring new energy to this rapidly growing area of West Oahu. We are very proud to be a part of Kapolei’s growth and bring affordable housing to an area where affordable housing is in high demand.” Vasquez has been working in Hawaii since 1983. Mohannad Mohanna, president of Highridge Costa Development Company adds, “We are pleased to announce the closing and start of construction of our newest community in Kapolei, Kulana Hale. We are very excited to provide much needed affordable senior and family housing to the community. Our

commitment to provide quality affordable housing will make Kulana Hale an important addition to Kapolei. This development is a result of years of hard work with our partners, Coastal Rim Properties, HHFDC, Citibank, Aegon, SVA Architects, American Savings Bank and LIIF. It takes a village to make a dream like Kulana Hale become a reality.” Founded in 2003, SVA Architects has become one of the country’s most innovative and respected design and planning organizations. The award-winning firm specializes in urban planning, architecture, and interior design of public, private, and mixed-use projects. Among the firm’s portfolio are civic, educational, residential, commercial, and mixed-use developments. SVA Architects values institutional and public environments as the foundation of a community and the backdrop against which we live, learn, work, worship, and play. The company is headquartered in Santa Ana, California, with offices in Oakland, California, San Diego, California, and Honolulu, Hawaii.

CONFERENCE CALL, from page 7

by making them responsible for the performance of others by creating a vertically aligned team, rather than purely hor- izontal. For example, we used to have all engineers (fromE1- E4) reporting to a single senior engineer. We have refocused and now have E1 and E2s reporting to E3, and E3 reporting to E4, etc. This helps develop leadership at all levels in the organization. “Every year we evaluate our benefit offerings to not only keep pace with the market, but also outpace it. One way we do this is through an annual employee survey where we ask the simple question, ‘What other benefits would you like to see Pond offer?’” TZL: Benefits are evolving. Are you offering any new ones due to the changing demographic? LG: Every year we evaluate our benefit offerings to not only keep pace with the market, but also outpace it. One way we do this is through an annual employee survey where we ask the simple question, “What other benefits would you like to see Pond offer?” It is a balance because everyone has differ- ent values – some prefer more time off (we now close the last week of the year), others want more flexibility (we now

Lorraine Green at a company appreciation event.

offer 9-80 scheduling), and others simply want more mon- etary incentives. So, the challenge is having diverse enough offerings to excite all of our employees. TZL: How are the tax cuts impacting your business? Have salaries and bonuses increased? LG: Yes. We added a 2 percent across-the-board pay in- crease for our staff this year to reflect the savings achieved from the tax cuts. This was in addition to standard increases.

TALK TO US Are you interested in having your firm featured in our Business News section? Let us know. If interested, please send your press release to sparkman@zweiggroup.com.

THE ZWEIG LETTER December 3, 2018, ISSUE 1274

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