Business Monday: Tony Honda dealership relocating to Queen Ka‘ahumanu Highway — and going green

Along Queen Ka‘ahumanu Highway in Kailua-Kona, amid the lava field and fountain grass, a building cropping up between Kohanaiki and the Hawai‘i Ocean Science and Technology Park is going to be the relocated Tony Honda Kona dealership.

It is being built on six of the 83 acres that the dealership’s owner, Tony Hawaiʻi Kona, purchased in 2023 for $7 million, according to Hawai‘i County tax records.

The land purchase is part of the companyʻs long-term plan to construct an O‘oma Development, a premier green technology business park. Its neighbor is the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawai‘i Authority, which powers the Hawai‘i Ocean Science and Technology Park.

The dealership will cost about $20 million to build and is expected to be open by the end of the year, said Tim Dagenais, president of the Tony Group.

Site grubbing and grading have been completed.  Foundations and concrete walls are in place, with structural steel beginning to go up.

Shortly after the land purchase, Bryan Hsu, director of technology and projects for the Tony Group, said the company separated about 11 acres of the property to preserve the historic King’s Trail crossing at the back portion of the site.

Tim Dagenais, president of the Tony Group, said the dealership is relocating because the rent, which he declined to disclose, was getting too high at its current spot on Kuakini Highway.

“We needed to rebuild the building to meet Honda’s requirements anyway, so we thought if we could purchase land and build the building, then we would actually stay in the front piece (of the property),” Dagenais said.

Hsu said the new Tony Honda Kona Dealership is being designed as one of the most advanced and environmentally conscious Honda dealerships in the world.  

“These efforts are driven in part by American Honda’s Green Dealer Program, where our Oʻahu location has earned 7 years of recognition, including 5 consecutive Platinum awards,” Hsu said. “For Kona, we are taking this even further by incorporating next-generation green technologies, high-efficiency energy systems, and a thoughtfully integrated architectural design.”  

On any given day, Dagenais said the Honda dealership in Kona has 250 new and used vehicles for sale. Models include passenger cars, compact cars, luxury vehicles, SUVs and full-size pickup trucks, as well as hybrid and electric vehicles.

Dagenais said the dealership will be the first all-green development on the property. But at this point, the company has not moved forward with any other development on the land.

Dagenais also said any development will be built about a mile and a half away from the beaches (Hawaiʻi County owns the land along the shoreline) and not encroach on shoreline access to neighboring Kohanaiki Beach Park and O‘oma Beach Park.

Dagenais said the company is working with the Hawai‘i Department of Transportation to establish a deceleration lane off for southbound traffic of the highway into the property entrance, as well as an acceleration lane back onto the highway.

For customers traveling north to get to the dealership, Dagenais said they will have to drive down to the stoplight at Kaiminani Drive and turn around.

The new location will be about an acre bigger than the current dealership. Dagenais expects business to increase by about 15% with additional Honda vehicles to sell.

The new building will be self-sustaining, with solar power and battery storage, as well as a backup generator.

“We will not be hooked to Hawaiʻi Electric at this time,” Dagenais said. “We’re going to be energy independent, mostly from the sun.”

The building will start with high-efficiency cooling and ventilation systems. But Dagenais said he has begun conversations with the Natural Energy Labs about piping deep seawater for cooling the building as a future option.

Dagenais said the company also will be using gray water recycling for irrigation and drought-resistant and salt-tolerant landscapes. Honda is also looking at new technology for generating water from the atmosphere.

“We’re looking at those units to take the water right out of the air and use that as fresh water,” Dagenais said.

Laurence Sombardier, deputy director at the Natural Energy Laboratory, said there have been a few conservations with the new land owners. “Their emphasis is sustainability and introducing a lot of green buildings,” she said.

So far, those conversations have been primarily about cooling the dealership with the deep-sea water that is piped off the Kona Coast near Keahole Point, where it comes out at 5 degrees Celsius.

Many of the businesses within Natural Energy Labs, including the Matsuyamas, use this system to cool their buildings. It is 10 times cheaper than using a conventional HVAC system, Sombardier said.

With about 10 miles of pipes, Sombardier said it costs about 20 cents per thousand gallons for deep-sea water for businesses at low elevations in the park. For businesses at higher elevations, like Matsuyaams, it’s about 80 cents per thousand gallons.

Comparatively, the Hawai‘i County Department of Water Supply’s general use rate is $1.50 per thousand gallons. Starting July 1, the rate will increase to $1.64 per thousand gallons.

Pipes currently don’t run out to the land purchased by Tony Hawaiʻi Kona.

Sombardier said the pipes would have to be designed and permitted, “but it wouldn’t be too difficult to do since we’re neighbors.”