Train design changes leave Kalihi’s printing business in limbo.

The future of Kalihi’s decades-old commercial printing business is uncertain, with Honolulu railroad leaders saying they will have to take over the business’s entire building as part of their latest Dillingham Boulevard facility relocation plan.

Walter Takara, who owns Service Printers Hawaii at 1829 Dillingham Boulevard, pleaded with Honolulu officials at a public meeting Thursday for rapid transit board members to reconsider taking the entire property.

Previously, the rail agency, the Honolulu City Council and the Federal Transit Administration all agreed to a cheaper deal that only required taking part of the property, Takara told board members. The building’s sole tenant of 43 years was letting it stay in business at the corner of Dillingham and Mokawe streets.

Negotiations to reach that agreement took seven years and involved several HART executives, Takara added. He described the partial takeover agreement on Thursday as a “win-win” that benefits HART, Service Publishers Hawaii and the Kalihi community as a whole.

Takara told members of HART’s Government and Legal Affairs Committee: “My point is, the plan has been cemented.”

But HART officials say the agency’s Dillingham utility relocation effort will now have to take over the Takara family’s entire property based on major design changes made in recent years to gain acceptance from city leaders and utility companies.

Nan, Inc. began its utility business with Dillingham based on those new designs. Since Dillingham’s work is critical to keeping construction on schedule, changing the designs to accommodate the previous agreement with Takaras would have “serious cost implications” for the entire rail project, HART project director Nathaniel Meddings told board members.

How to solve the utility puzzle in cramped, congested Dillingham has been a major challenge for the railroad — and rail officials’ failure to solve it in time has led to many of the project’s painful cost and schedule failures in recent years.

On Thursday, the GALM committee voted unanimously to begin a city process that would see Takara’s property taken by eminent domain if necessary.

HART used a similar approach for several other properties needed to build the local rail line, negotiating separately with the owners.

Agency leaders say a bipartisan approach is necessary to keep the project on schedule, even though the schedule often slips. Many property owners, meanwhile, have complained that the pursuit of popularity when negotiating prices gives HART and the city an unfair advantage in negotiations.

Pang Communications, which handles media inquiries for HART, did not provide Babur with an updated count of how many properties have been acquired through eminent domain to date.

“negative situation”

According to its website, Service Printers Hawaii has been in business for nearly 60 years. A representative said by phone Thursday that the company had no comment on the acquisition of rail assets.

Takara told the board that the company employs more than 30 people.

“Their future is currently unknown, at best,” he said.

The property where Service Printers is located has been in the family for three generations, he said.

The family’s agreement with previous HART leaders — prior to Dillingham’s design changes — meant the city would get some of the land and the front of the building, which would be demolished, Takara told the board. Back then, the city would sell the Takaras a similar amount of empty space to replace the lost office and parking space.

He called it a “more than fair plan to replace and rebuild what was taken.”

Takara said he didn’t see anything from the new design change or any explanation why they now need the family’s entire property. Meddings told him that he would be happy to review the changes at the meeting and why they need to take them completely now.

“This is what we have been facing for all these years. So that’s why we’re frustrated and rightfully so…but our position has always been to work with HART and try to get this result,” Takara said.