A community meeting last week hosted by Iolani School drew about 150 people to hear more about the school’s purchase of the land under nine neighboring residential buildings.
A school representative said there will be no extensions offered when the current leases expire in 2012, and owners of apartments in the area will have to pay market rents to the school while future development is planned.
When asked why existing apartment owners or associations were not offered the right of first refusal when the land was put up for sale, the answer was simple:
That is an issue that would have to be answered by the seller.
Senator Carol Fukunaga attended and had this comment in a subsequent email:
This area is not in my senatorial district, but Senate District 11 has one of the largest concentrations of leasehold units with soon-to-expire leases, and what happens at Date-Laau will be important for Ala Moana, Makiki/Punchbowl residents.
Fukunaga forwarded a lengthy description of the meeting written by McCully-Moiliili Neighborhood Board member John Kane Gollner.