20 for the Next 20: Ka‘iulani Sodaro, Howard Hughes – Ward Village

This senior VP of planning and development is helping to transform 60 acres of prime real estate in Kaka‘ako, including 1,200 below-market condos.

Since joining Howard Hughes in 2021, Ka‘iulani Sodaro has taken on the monumental task of developing 60 acres of prime real estate in Kaka‘ako.

Sodaro oversees planning, permitting and the “super messy and fun” work of upgrading sewer and water lines in the yearslong remake of Ward Village, which has accelerated under her watch.

It’s a job that requires balancing history with the needs of a modern city, she says. “We’re all shaping the place we’re in, and the place is shaping us. I tell my team, that’s both a beautiful gift to receive and a lot of responsibility.”

The project will add about 6,000 housing units, as well as a gleaming new neighborhood of stores and restaurants, 2 miles of bike lanes, 3 miles of sidewalks and the new 3½-acre public Victoria Ward Park.

While many units are luxury condos, she’s excited about the nearly finished Ulana Ward Village, a tower of about 700 below-market-price units reserved for kama‘āina. In all, the area will have more than 1,200 units that are set aside for people making less than 140% of the median income in Honolulu.

“We will have single-handedly delivered the most local-reserved housing units in urban Honolulu, so it’s a game-changer,” she says.

Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi says Sodaro is a huge asset to Howard Hughes.

Blangiardi met her in the bleak pandemic fall of 2020, when she contacted him about wanting to run the Department of Planning and Permitting, then a black hole of city government, where the “dreams of developers and architects” went to die, he says.

He was impressed with her confidence and knowledge, and expected to hire her. Instead, his committee chose another candidate. Years later, he says he still regrets that decision. “I would have liked her energy and intelligence, and her passion for this place because it’s infectious,” he says. “She is a rising star.”

Ka‘iulani, a mother of two boys, studied hospitality administration at Cornell University and planning at the University of Southern California, and has worked in planning and development at such places as Hilton Hotels, The Resort Group and Pūlama Lāna‘i.

She chairs the local Trust for Public Land board, an organization she learned about as a “Sandy Beach rat” in high school at Punahou.

She’s also held board positions with Child & Family Service and PBS Hawai‘i and served on the Honolulu Planning Commission.