If you've driven down North King Street or Vineyard Boulevard on the edge of downtown Honolulu, you've passed Mayor Wright Homes. It's been there since 1953, and it's been talked about for redevelopment for years. Now the work is finally getting going.
Highridge Costa Development Company plans to break ground on the first phase of the redevelopment, Hawaiʻi Public Radio reported on Oct. 16, with the groundbreaking planned for the following week.
Today, Mayor Wright Homes has 364 public housing apartments on nearly 15 acres, in a block bounded by North King Street, Liliha Street and Vineyard Boulevard. When it's finished, the new complex will have 2,450 affordable and workforce apartments spread over 10 new towers, according to HPR.
Those 364 public housing units for very low-income tenants will be replaced and spread across the new towers, and former Mayor Wright residents who were displaced will get the first right to those apartments. Company president Mohannad Mohanna told HPR that all tenants affected by construction have been relocated to other apartments at the same rent.
Not every new unit will be public housing, but all of them will be income-restricted. Mohanna told HPR the complex will be mixed-income but limited to residents earning no more than 100% of the area median income, which works out to about $150,000 a year for a family of four. The first phases will be for tenants at 60% of AMI, he said, with later phases gradually moving to the higher income limits. He described that as one way to revitalize the area.
The first tower
State housing finance documents fill in what's going up first. A November 2025 board document from the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation describes Phase 1A as a single 30-story residential building with 308 apartments: 306 low-income housing tax credit units and two manager's units, aimed at families earning up to 60% of the area median income.
That same document laid out estimated milestones: construction starting in the fourth quarter of 2026, and the building and its certificate of occupancy in the second quarter of 2029. Those were estimates at the time, but they line up with a groundbreaking this fall and give a sense of the schedule: roughly two and a half years to build a 30-story tower.
The Hawaiʻi Public Housing Authority told the state housing finance agency in testimony that it partnered with Highridge Costa in 2023 on a larger redevelopment effort called Ka Lei Momi, which covers nine public housing sites, and that Mayor Wright Homes was prioritized by Gov. Josh Green and the Legislature as one of the first to be redeveloped. The authority called the plan a new mixed-income, mixed-use, transit-oriented development, and said the master plan grew out of community meetings with residents, neighborhood leaders, elected officials and service providers going back to 2016.
What a project this size means
Let's put it plainly: 10 towers and 2,450 apartments on one site in Honolulu is a generation of work. Phase 1A alone, a 30-story tower, is a big high-rise job, with concrete, rebar, formwork, elevators, curtain wall or window systems, fire protection and a long list of MEP and finish trades.
And it's only the first of 10. If the redevelopment moves the way the plan describes, crews could be working on this block for many years.
It's also a site with a lot of neighbors. Mayor Wright sits where Kalihi, Liliha, Kapālama and Iwilei meet, so staging, deliveries and traffic will need careful handling.
We couldn't find a free public source naming a general contractor for Phase 1A, so that's the question to chase if you want in.
Why it matters for Contractors
A 10-tower, 2,450-unit redevelopment is about as close to a long-term pipeline as it gets in Honolulu. The first tower alone will need concrete and structural crews, elevator installers, glazing, roofing and waterproofing, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, fire sprinklers, drywall, flooring, cabinets and painting, and later phases will need all of it again. High-rise affordable housing financed with tax credits and public housing funds comes with its share of compliance paperwork, so get familiar with those requirements early. Keep an eye on Highridge Costa and the Hawaiʻi Public Housing Authority for word on the builder and bid packages, and remember that the folks who do good work on the first tower are often first in line for the next.