What's Happening Hawaii? Ep. 1

Welcome to a new series. We're calling this What's Happening Hawaii. I run into people all the time who tell me they love our YouTube channel, local people, people visiting from the mainland. And I'll always ask, like, what makes you watch? And one guy recently said, oh, you've helped me find really cool places to eat. And then local people will tell me, oh, I learn so much from you every time I watch your episodes. So I thought, you know what? We should just do videos like about Hawaii that are like real estate adjacent. Of course, we're going to have some real estate information on here, but this is just a video for everybody. So if you would do me a favor and let us know in the comments why you're watching today and where you're watching from. I'm Myla Gibson-Bamman. I'm a real estate agent here on O'ahu with my partner, Koa Cassidy, with Yasu behind the camera. If there's anything we can do for you, if you have questions about anything that we're sharing on this video or the other videos on our channel, get in touch with us at info dwellhawaii.com. Let's take a ride on the rail. So it's $9.50 for this one day pass. So it's $2 for the card itself, the holo card. Holo in Hawaiian means go. And then for one day, it's $7.50. So I can ride this unlimited for $7.50. Oh. Okay. We're official. So cute. That's the holo card. Okay. I don't know how to do this. Let's see. I think you just... Cute. I think we're going the wrong way. I felt like we got on the westbound. Did we not? Are we going to go? I mean, it'll go back anyway. I guess we just won't get off. Yeah. We intended to go to the stadium, but we ended up going east first. I don't know if that's how it runs. You get on and you go backwards to go forwards, but that's what we did. I think we got on the wrong train. Yeah. Well, I'm feeling a little bit emotional riding this right now because my dad was a railroader and he was actually pretty excited about having rail in Hawaii. Of course, he criticized this to high heaven because he felt like they were doing it wrong. And he would often say, I'm not going to see it in my lifetime. And he was right. He passed away about two years ago and this just started running in 2024. But my first time riding it and it's like, I don't know. I feel like I'm bringing my daddy with me in my heart. This cost about 12 billion or at the end of it, it's going to be 12 billion plus. The next stop is Ahua Lagoon Drive. I love that they speak Hawaiian and they say it so properly. Of course. Same thing if you ride the bus, you're going to hear like some very nice voice overhead that pronounces the street names and the cities ever so properly. There are 900,000 registered cars on the island of Oahu. And currently they're saying there's 10,000 people riding this per day. It's not really making a scratch in the traffic situation, but I will say anybody riding this gets to benefit from it. I mean, 22 minutes from Kapolei to Honolulu is awesome. Considering that if you work at the airport and you come here during work hours, that commute is like an hour and a half in traffic. All right. How much does it cost to It's $3 for one trip. It caps out at $7.50 for a day pass. We just bought our day pass, so it was $2 for the card. And then I believe it's $80 a month, which is around the same as a bus pass. Kupuna, anybody with disabilities, anybody on Medicare gets a discounted rate. It's about 50% less than the general ridership. I like it so far. I'm not one of those people that was like necessarily happy about this because our taxes are already high and our taxes are also being allocated towards the rail that only 10,000 people ride currently. I love hearing the beautiful Hawaiian language. It's nice. But now that I've written it, I feel like their social media people could do maybe a better job like, you know, having people ride it and getting their good feedback about it. Because like I said, I know somebody that uses this to go to work. He lives in Makakilo and really enjoys that 22 minute drive. Right. 22 minute ride. Okay. Well, we are stopping at the Halawa Stadium stop. And that leads us into a very important thing. The stadium is going to be demolished. Permits were just granted in August 2025. So any day now, we'll see this come down. They condemned it saying that it wasn't safe. For many years, this was where the Pro Bowl was played, UH football games, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey came and played music here, the Eagles. So kind of sad that it's going to go but excited about what's to come. The new stadium is supposed to be done March of 2029. And it's supposed to start hosting UH football games, rugby, soccer, this 98 acre area is also supposed to be redeveloped. And you'll see houses, affordable housing, shopping, restaurants, I would think it was it's supposed to be something like LA Live around the Staples Center. swap meet still happens on the weekends. And on Wednesdays, I think I haven't been to swap meet in years. What else? Oh, the next thing UFC. Should I talk about that here? I guess so. Yeah. No. Oh, where do you want photography sign? Oh. Have you been filming? Okay, great. We ask for forgiveness, not permission. Should we move? Yeah. So we confirm that the holo card is good for the bus as well. And that's the whole point getting on the train and then being able to get off get on the bus to connect you to wherever else you need to go. So 80 bucks a month gives you unlimited ridership. Another likely possibility is going to be the UFC coming to the stadium district we'll see but Governor Josh Green has been in talks with Dana White and Max Holloway, which is one of our favorite MMA UFC stars BJ Penn was before him. But Max and Dana made a pretty good donation to homemade Hawaii, specifically for Lahaina. They love Hawaii and UFC loves Hawaii Hawaii loves UFC so it'd be really cool to see a training facility come to this area and to see some events hosted here as well. So we'll let you know if we hear any more on that. Now we're back at the airport. This is such a fun field trip. Yasu thank you so much for this idea. Okay, here's something kind of relevant hot off the press might not be so hot off the press by the time this video comes out. Maybe it will be hopefully not. But we're in the middle of the longest government shutdown in history. And this airport is one of 40 that is going to be limited. As far as I don't know what is it? What are we calling it as far as like transportation is concerned air traffic control. I think they're limiting the number of flights. They're limiting the number of flights that are going to be coming in and out of Honolulu, which is just great because Hawaii is a tourism state. And yeah, kind of a bummer. More about the rail though. Okay, I was thinking of things as we were going. So let's get back into good news. Anybody that lives at Ho'opili. So there's a rail station there. And if you are a military service member, or if you work at Pearl Harbor, there's a stop right outside of the Pearl Harbor Joint Base makalapa gate. So I was like, Oh my gosh, this is perfect for for anybody that lives there and works here, flight attendants and pilots, airport workers, I've said this before, even though we're in the middle of a shutdown and transportation is going to be limited and there might be furloughs, whatever. Anyway, anybody living at Ho'opili who works here at the airport, this is also such an awesome connection for you. And the other thing when we were riding towards the west side, you could see h1 and I was like, how liberating that must be when you're like in the middle of traffic and you're just sailing through on the skyline and you're looking at all that gridlock and you're like, ha ha ha suckers. Anyway, great experience. Let's move along. Here's something that's not only meaningful for Hawaii, but it's meaningful to me. It's meaningful to Koa. Hawaiian Airlines is officially owned by Alaska Airlines. Now what this means for the future of the airline is a little bit up in the air. They say they're going to keep Pualani. They say that the Hawaiian Airlines logo will remain, but hard to say if Alaska Airlines really means what they say. They've already relocated some of the, I guess, the bases or where the flights fly out from and arrive to. For example, some of the direct flights that used to go from Honolulu to Japan now have to go from Seattle. And of course, Alaska Airlines main hub is Seattle, so we might see some of those routes relocated there. They got rid of the Boston route. There's a few other routes that they've eliminated. But again, just something really meaningful. A lot of our friends work for Hawaiian Airlines. A lot of our family. My brother-in-law is a pilot. My two sisters were once flight attendants. Koa's wife is a flight attendant. She's the beautiful one on the in-flight videos. It would be really, really sad not to see Hawaiian Airlines in the sky anymore. So hopefully they keep it around. Now we're in Kahala. These are the Kahala Beach Apartments. The lease is running out on these in 2027. The reason that it's relevant is I've been getting a few calls and inquiries about this project. So the units are like pretty sizable, two bedrooms, beachfront in Kahala next to the Kahala Hotel, across the street from the Wai'alai Country Club. And there's some for sale right now in like under $200,000. But they are leasehold. The lease expires in 2027. The land beneath it is owned by Kamehameha Schools. I've heard rumors about what they plan to do with this once the lease is done. They're saying that Kamehameha will likely sell this entire property, but I don't have any real confirmation on that. Now speaking of Kamehameha Schools, there's a lawsuit taking place right now and it is, oh what is the name of the coalition? It's a non-profit that has filed the lawsuit. And they are called the Students for Fair Admissions. And apparently they're located in Virginia. Kamehameha Schools has had lawsuits before, but this one is pretty heavy. And just to touch on it a little bit, because I could get a little bit emotional about it. Kamehameha Schools, you have to be Hawaiian to attend. You have to test in. So it's not just, oh I'm Hawaiian, I'm going to go to Kamehameha Schools. It's a hard school to get into. It's a very special school. And I just wish that instead of just filing a lawsuit and calling it racist, that they would really get to understand the school and what it's all about. Princess Bernice Pawahi Bishop inherited a bunch of land. She created a trust and in her trust it said that she wanted the land or any of the proceeds to go towards educating children of Hawaii. And you know, to come against this and to say like, we don't like what she's doing with her trust, it would be like any of us forming a trust. And then some stranger coming and saying years after our death that they don't like what's happening with our estate. So in a nutshell, that's how I feel about it. I've got family members that attended there. My husband went there. I went to a couple of the programs. I didn't get into Kamehameha. But I will say it is such a special place. It's not a place where you're being taught to be racist or entitled because you're Hawaiian. It's a place where we really get to learn to celebrate our culture and learn about our ancestry. And yeah, I just wish that people would learn a little bit more about it rather than coming after it. So we'll see how that shakes out. You can certainly Google it or keep tabs on it if you'd like. But just something interesting to talk about since Kamehameha Schools is one of the largest landowners here in Hawaii, including the land here at Kahala Beach Apartments. Although we're on the completely opposite end from the North Shore, we are sitting here at a beach in Kahala. So I thought it would be worth talking about this. The Hawaii Sea Grant and the North Shore, what is it called? The Coastal Resilience Working Group of the North Shore have gotten together and had a meeting to discuss the North Shore Coastal Management Plan. Three homes have been lost due to erosion. You may have seen us talk about this before. Homes have literally fallen into the ocean and it's created quite the controversy because people who own homes on the beach are not able to shore up or create a seawall in order to mitigate homes falling into the ocean. And so then they just basically lose their homes and then they face violations for that and the financial responsibility for it. People have been trying to sell their homes that are on the beach and they're unable to because of fears of erosion. Anytime we represent clients that are looking to the North Shore, we're sure to caution them on that as well. So basically they just met, the wheels are in motion, but we probably won't see or hear much more about this or the plans to really do anything about it until like late 2026. Right now they're just conducting a lot of studies on it. Here's another new and exciting development. There are new homes coming to Hawai'i Kai. So we've got a lot of Hawai'i Kai videos. I live in Hawai'i Kai so I'm kind of biased towards it. I've often said that there's really no new development happening. I think I may have hinted that it was possible. Well, the villas on 8th are coming. These are 14 executive homes. Prices, we're suspecting they're going to be around two and a half million. Some of the sales team showed us some comparable sales in the area just to show us possibly what the prices might be. These are going to be 2,500 square foot-ish homes, executive style with standing seam roofs and all kinds of luxury finishes. Going to be kind of nice to have new homes in Hawai'i Kai because it's been a while. These are going to sit on the Hawai'i Kai golf course on the 8th hole. So as we get more information about these, we will be sure to let you know. And finally, before we go and eat, we've talked a lot about Block D and E in our other condo videos. Well, really this development deserves its own video and we'll probably do one soon, but I'll give you a little bit of sneak peek information about it. Sales have begun for Ilima and Melia. Ilima being the very ultra ultra luxury project and then Melia being ultra luxury. Prices there are about two and a half million for a two-bedroom where they start at two and a half million. At Ilima, prices start around four million and escalate way, way up. Discovery Land Company is working in partnership with Howard Hughes. They also developed Kukio on the Big Island. They've got an incredible architect involved that is responsible for buildings in New York. I think it was like 220 Central Park East or West. We'll try to get some renderings on here for you, just a very interesting project. The last of the Kaka'ako Ward Village Howard Hughes set of buildings. These are going to be available in 2030, but sales have already started. So if you're interested in a Zoom presentation on that, get in touch with us. Ilima is going to have its own private club called Mohala. This club is going to have three full service restaurants. There's going to be like a full service spa, full service concierge. There's going to be a sushi bar. It does cost $60,000 per year to be a member of the club, and it is mandatory if you buy into Ilima. We've heard that some pretty notable people have already reserved units in Ilima. I don't know if I should say the names, but a very popular pop star that is from Hawaii, I heard is on contract there. Some athletes, some big like worldwide superstars. So it's going to be pretty interesting. The architecture is cool. The units aren't all windows like most of the condos you see in Kaka'ako. There's actually gallery walls, so there's room to put art. Although the views are incredibly stunning because it's just like right there in front of Ala Moana Beach Park. And any of the ocean views are just like incredible along with diamond head views. There are some mountain views as well. Maintenance fees there, they have them starting at $1.80 per square foot. So if you're buying like a 14, 1500 square foot unit, you can count on like what is that $2,800 per month for your HOA fees. So pretty pricey, but they are selling. And I did a Zoom presentation recently with a client. I've got another client set up for another Zoom presentation as well. So let us know if you'd like to know more. Well, since we're in East Honolulu, I thought it would be cool to check out a new restaurant. This is actually an older restaurant called The Pig and the Lady. They serve up pho at farmers markets. They've got a great location downtown and they just opened a location in Kaimuki, which is next to Kahala. And it's slamming, of course, because the food is good. And Yasu and I are hungry, so let's go eat. It's not lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant if you don't have a Thai iced tea. At a Vietnamese restaurant? At a Vietnamese restaurant. I got the Vietnamese coffee. It's Vietnamese, right? No, Thai is Thai. But isn't this a Vietnamese restaurant? This is, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Okay, so since we're in the vicinity of food, I thought I'd mention a couple of places that are coming to Hawaii. Shake Shack announced that they're going to come. We don't know where, we don't know exactly when, but they're coming. So excited. And then Sonic is also coming to Kapolei. Sonic's old, but I feel like Shake Shack could have come here sooner because like Yasu and I were talking, it's like, Shake Shack's kind of old already, but whatever. They're good. We're excited. Let's dip. Ooh, it's kind of hot. I don't want to burn my mouth. I love this. Okay, here we go. Just like I remember from the farmer's market. It's nice to sit down and eat it. So good. Thank you for watching our first What's Happening Hawaii episode. If you found value in this, please give us a thumbs up. That would be so great. And once again, if you want to get in touch with us, you can do so by emailing us at info at dwellhawaii.com. See you next time.