1350 Ala Moana: Three Major Renovations, One Hands-On Board

How a 1968 Ala Moana condo took on concrete repair, 693 window replacements, and a new driveway system

Building Management Hawaii featured 1350 Ala Moana in a project profile worth reading for any board facing a large capital project. The building opened in 1968 and holds 353 units across 33 floors. Over roughly five years, its board took on three major renovations back to back, and Seal Masters of Hawaii and our sister company Elite Construction Services performed the work.

What stands out is not the scope. It is how involved the board was.

An Active Board Is the Difference

Building manager Ron Komine Jr. credits the outcome to the people overseeing it. Board president Yvette Rogers and board treasurer Charlie Knight played key roles across all three projects, working with the board's Physical Plant Committee, which coordinates every major project at the building.

That involvement was not ceremonial. According to Komine, the board was essential in contractor selection, reviewing product details and specifications, contract negotiations, preconstruction planning, mockups, and COVID-19 protocols.

"Our board of directors is very hands-on and involved in all projects," Komine said.

For any AOAO weighing how much of a capital project to delegate, that is the model. The board did not hand off decisions and wait for invoices. They were in the specifications and the mockups.

Exterior Renovation: When the Paint Won't Hold

The AOAO noticed cracked and spalled concrete, and the building had not been painted since 2006. During planning, a problem surfaced that changes a project's budget and schedule: testing showed the existing paint system had poor adhesion, and many areas would not accept a new coating at all. The old system had to be scraped down to bare concrete before anything new could go on.

That is a discovery worth planning for. Boards budgeting an exterior painting project should assume adhesion testing may reveal the same thing, because finding out mid-project is far more expensive than finding out during design. Work ran from May 2017 to December 2019 under the oversight of JPB Engineering.

693 Windows and 78 Doors

The building still had its original 1960s windows and doors. Components had corroded and many no longer functioned as designed. Elite Construction Services replaced 693 windows and 78 doors, using anodized aluminum frames with high-end roto operators for easier operation.

The bigger win was acoustic. Traffic and refuse truck noise in the neighborhood had been increasing, so the design specified an LMI three-layer glass unit. An acoustical test compared sound transmission loss between the original and new assemblies, and the reduction was substantial. According to the article, many owners called the noise reduction the single greatest benefit of the project. The glass also cut heat gain.

Elite Construction Services crews replacing windows and doors at 1350 Ala Moana

Driveway: A 30-Year-Old System Reaches the End

The driveway had been waterproofed in 1991 with a membrane over the structural slab and a decorative topping. Thirty years later the topping had cracked and water was reaching the lower parking garage. The replacement uses a high-performance PMMA waterproofing system that carries a 20-year warranty and requires no topping slab, which removes the layer that failed the first time.

Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates served as consultant and designer of record. Trees of Hawaii was brought in specifically to protect the monkeypod tree in the driveway circle during construction, a detail that says a lot about how the board approached the project.

Managing Three Projects in an Occupied Building

Sarah Light, Chief Operating Officer of Elite Construction Services, points to staffing and communication as the two things that made these projects work in a fully occupied building.

Crew sizes were scaled to each scope: 12 people on the exterior renovation, 10 on the window and door replacement, and six on the driveway. Every project also carried a project coordinator, project manager, on-site supervisor, and a dedicated safety officer, regardless of crew size.

The hardest challenge was timing nobody could have planned for. The window and door project began roughly two months before the pandemic reached Hawaii. Rather than push forward, the project was put on hold for two months while safety protocols were developed for unit owners, residents, building staff, and crews. Work resumed with daily cleaning of every unit crews entered and every common area they accessed, plus an organizational COVID-19 pledge covering sanitization guidelines and a daily health questionnaire.

Her takeaway is one boards should hear: a project of this magnitude always requires early and consistent communication.

How the Board Chose a Contractor

1350 solicits bids from a minimum of three contractors on every major project. Several were invited to bid on these, and the AOAO already had history with Seal Masters of Hawaii from an emergency concrete spall repair roughly a decade before the exterior renovation began. Board president Yvette Rogers says that early job set the tone.

“Seal Masters has always been trustworthy and responsive, quickly addressing any questions and concerns in a timely manner,” Rogers said. “We have also been continuously impressed with their workmanship and competitive price.”

That history carried into the next two projects. When the window and door replacement came up for bid, the board selected Elite Construction Services, Seal Masters’ sister company, expecting the same workmanship, customer relations, pricing, and project management. When the AOAO budgeted the driveway renovation for 2022, Seal Masters bid it again.

“We have appreciated working on these projects with SMH and ECS, and we value the reliable relationships that we have formed with them,” Rogers said.

What Other Boards Can Take From This

Keven Whalen of Touchstone Properties handled capital planning, budgeting, and forecasting alongside the board, coordinated contract reviews with their legal team, and processed applications for payment. Architect John Black of Lapis Design Partners provided the overall design across the projects.

On communication, the association held town hall meetings before work began and published weekly schedules and notices for the elevators and lobby throughout. In an occupied building, that is the difference between residents who tolerate a project and residents who fight it.

“It is important to establish and maintain strong relationships with contractors and consultants,” Rogers said. Periodic status meetings between the contractor and the board committee, she notes, are what keep a project on schedule and on budget, and they give the board what it needs to answer questions from residents before those questions become problems.

Read the Full Article

The complete profile, including interviews with building manager Ron Komine Jr., board president Yvette Rogers, and Sarah Light, appeared in the September 2022 issue of Building Management Hawaii.

Read the full article in Building Management Hawaii

Download the full article (PDF)

If your building is planning concrete repair, window replacement, or a waterproofing project, Seal Masters of Hawaii can assess conditions and walk your board through the options. Contact us to schedule a site visit.