The City and County of Honolulu is addressing a complex brownfield redevelopment area along its urban core. With a new elevated rail corridor under construction along Honolulu’s southern shoreline, the City is planning for new transit-oriented development at future station areas to better connect communities, jobs, and services.With a new elevated rail corridor under construction along Honolulu’s southern shoreline, the City is planning for new transit-oriented development at future station areas to better connect communities, jobs, and services.
One such area is Iwilei—an historically underserved district facing layered challenges, including widespread environmental contamination across multiple brownfield sites, exposure to sea level rise, inadequate infrastructure, and recurring urban flooding. At the same time, Iwilei is uniquely positioned for transformation, with significant City-owned land located adjacent to the future rail line and Downtown Honolulu, creating an opportunity for sustainable, high-density urban development and much-needed housing.
As part of this effort, the City partnered with the Center for Creative Land Recycling (CCLR) to support advanced planning and analysis for transit-oriented brownfield redevelopment in the area. Through this partnership, CCLR convened City, State, and agency partners in a series of multi-day workshops to identify redevelopment barriers, evaluate environmental and infrastructure constraints, and explore creative, cross-sector solutions tailored to the complexity of the site.
The Transit-Oriented, High Density Brownfield Redevelopment video documents this collaborative process and highlights how early coordination, technical assistance, and cross-agency collaboration can help advance redevelopment readiness for complex urban sites. The video features City leadership and partners discussing the challenges facing the area, including environmental contamination, flood risk, and infrastructure limitations, as well as the opportunity to leverage public land and transit investment to deliver housing and community-serving uses.
The planning process documented in the video informed the CCLR-facilitated workshops and the development of the Kūwili Station Situation Report. Through this work, agencies were able to collectively identify constraints, assess redevelopment pathways, and align around strategies that would typically take many years to resolve. These early efforts helped advance analysis and coordination, laying important groundwork for future planning, market engagement, and the City’s ongoing work to deliver transit-oriented redevelopment in Iwilei.
Watch the video
View the Kūwili Station Situation Report (PDF)
