A California real estate company won state approval to begin building 1,924 homes, two 18-hole golf courses, a shopping center and other amenities on the Big Island near Waikoloa.

Bridge Capital will break ground on the new community called Aina Le'a within a month. The 1,060-acre project will include a 30-acre site for a public school and 26 acres of parks and walking and biking paths.

Bridge Capital promised to price 385 of the homes at around $200,000 to ease some of the overwhelming demand for workforce housing, but the large-scale development will also add to traffic congestion, which has become a problem along the Kohala Coast.

"This place is going through such growing pains," said Randall Dale, a 24-year Big Island resident who lives near Kawaihae. Dale said the Kohala area is in desperate need of schools, affordable housing and commercial development like a shopping center, but he is concerned about whether roads can handle additional traffic created by such a massive project.

The state Land Use Commission decided to approve the project last week, reviving a modified version of a plan approved in 1991 but never built.

The former Puako Hawaii development plan by Japanese firm Nansay Hawaii obtained approval for 1,550 homes and six golf courses on about 3,000 acres mauka of the Mauna Lani Resort.

Nansay's project was derailed by financial troubles and Hawai'i's flagging economy in the early 1990s. The land was sold at foreclosure in 1998, and acquired a year later by an affiliate of Bridge Capital.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Nansay had promised to sell 60 percent of its homes at prices affordable to families earning a little more than the Big Island's median income. That promise was part of the deal in which the Land Use Commission agreed to reclassify 1,060 acres of the property from agriculture use to urban use.

But the commitment was an economic barrier to developing the property in today's market, according to Bernie Bays, an attorney representing Bridge Capital's development entity, Bridge Aina Le'a.

"An affordable housing requirement that high basically blocked any development on that property, and unintendedly prevented the creation of any affordable housing," he said.

Bridge petitioned the Land Use Commission to allow 20 percent of project homes to be sold at affordable prices, which is the current Hawai'i County standard. After hearings in September and earlier this month, the commission approved the change that will provide 385 affordable homes.

Bays said more than 400 people testified by letter or in person at commission hearings in support of the change because of the need for affordable housing.

According to the commission, about 30 people testified in support of modifying the affordable-housing requirement at a Sept. 30 hearing in Waikoloa, with many citing a need for affordable homes closer to where many jobs exist at Kohala resorts.

"The workers are the backbone of this community, and Bridge Aina Le'a has committed to providing 385 homes that working-class families can afford," said Hoolae Paoa, CEO of Bridge Aina Le'a, in a statement.

Bays added that building more homes closer to where people work might reduce traffic, which he said was not a paramount concern of residents who expressed opinions on the Aina Le'a project.

Based on current median income levels, affordable homes would be priced at $194,000 and a little higher, though actual prices will depend on future median income levels.

NO LUXURY ESTATES

Prices for the other homes are difficult to forecast, according to Bays, though he said Bridge does not intend to build million-dollar luxury estates. "They think it would be difficult to sell homes in this area for $1 million," he said, adding that the developer would like to keep prices under $800,000 if possible.

Under Bridge's agreement with the commission, all 385 affordable homes must be completed within five years, and it could be possible to finish the homes in three years.

Bays said the overall buildout of Aina Le'a is projected to take five to 10 years.

There are no plans to develop the other roughly 2,000 acres of Bridge land designated for agriculture use.

Construction of roads and other infrastructure is scheduled to begin in the next 30 days by Goodfellow Bros. Inc.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.