New housing development planned at former Saint Francis School campus

Feb. 3—Related Photo Gallery: New housing development planned at former Saint Francis School campus

The former Saint Francis School site in Manoa appears destined to become housing after fizzled acquisition efforts by the University of Hawaii and the state Department of Education.

Local development firm Avalon Group recently purchased the property for $23.35 million, according to brokerage firm CBRE representing the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities, which closed the private Catholic school in 2019 after nearly a century of operation.

The 11.1-acre site is zoned for residential use, which is what Avalon envisions pursuing.

Christine Camp, Avalon president and CEO, said there is interest from several schools wanting to use the property but that producing homes on the site for local families is the company’s focus given the high demand and low supply of housing in the market.

“We’re very mindful of the area concerns

related to density and the types of housing that they may want,” she said. “So we are still working on a plan.”

Camp also said that future homes on the site would cost much less than the current $2 million average sale price for single-family homes on Oahu.

Some residents in the adjacent single-family home neighborhood said they prefer a school use that would maintain the longtime character of the area, as opposed to more homes.

“I wish the DOE had purchased it, or UH,” said Corey Takara, who lives near the former Saint Francis School property. “We’re kind of on a one-lane road, and traffic is going to be nuts.”

The entry to the property is along Pamoa Road, which isn’t wide enough for two cars and allows street parking on one side.

Kimberly Tokuda, another resident on Pamoa Road, also isn’t in favor of housing on the former school property even though traffic from school use was an issue.

Camp noted that the capacity for the former school was 499 students and about 80 staff members on the campus, which includes dormitories and a 200-seat gym that has been used by Hawaii Pacific University since 2019.

Zoning for the property

allows for minimum-size residential lots of 7,500 square feet, which might accommodate around 60 houses. The building height limit is 25 feet, though buildings on

the former school campus include two long ones that rise four stories.

The school was established in 1924 by the Syracuse, N.Y.-based Sisters of St. Francis. But financial losses in recent years, in part due to debt used to build a new gym in 2013, could not be stanched. So the nonprofit congregation, which takes care of its members, decided to close the school in 2019 and put the property up for sale in 2020.

Sister Barbara Jean Donovan, general minister of the Sisters of St. Francis, said in 2019 that closing the school, which had students from preschool through 12th grade, was sad and heart-

wrenching. “Simply put, there is not enough money to continue,” she said at

the time.

CBRE in marketing materials described allowed uses under existing zoning as including single-family home development, two-unit home development, educational uses, religious uses, government uses, a neighborhood grocery store and group living facilities. The former school operated under a conditional use permit.

Because the property borders the UH campus on two sides, the university was interested in buying it for potential integration into its long-range development plans.

Kalbert Young, the university’s budget and finance vice president, told state lawmakers in 2023 that UH had submitted an offer to buy the property and had a legislative appropriation from 2020 for a purchase.

UH also partnered with another entity to make

another offer, but neither offer was accepted, according to UH.

DOE also had been pursuing the Saint Francis School site. Superintendent Keith Hayashi told the Legislature in 2023 that the department’s Office of Facilities and Operations was focusing on acquiring the property as one of three high-priority special projects.

According to Hayashi’s memo, DOE viewed the site as an opportunity for training and meetings, business offices and possibly to lodge staff from neighboring islands while attending meetings and conferences on Oahu. Hayashi also said having the property would reduce the need to rent private office space.