For months, as living conditions at 1136 Union Mall descended from squalor to violence, tenants have sought help from city officials, the police, city council and neighborhood board members, the courts — anyone who might help — to no avail.

Now the building’s former owner and lender, who holds a legal interest in the building, is asking a state judge to step in with what might be the only relatively quick solution: put an independent third party in control of the building while the lender seeks to take over the property through foreclosure.

Dozens of residents still live in unpermitted homes in former office suites at 1136 Union Mall, in the heart of Honolulu’s central business district, near the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and headquarters of major companies like Hawaiian Telcom and Finance Factors. 

Unlike its prominent neighbors, 1136 Union Mall lacks electricity, working elevators, air-conditioning and proper showers and kitchens. Union Mall Development Group, which owns the building, never obtained permits to convert the building for residential use so is renting it out illegally.

But it would take someone in authority to enforce the law prohibiting Union Mall Development from renting offices as homes. The problem of doing so is compounded by the fact that no one with Union Mall Development appears willing to accept responsibility for the building.

Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s office is aware of the squalid conditions but the city is waiting for the owner’s permission to inspect the building for potential fire, health and safety code violations. Honolulu’s Department of Planning and Permitting has issued numerous notices of violations against Union Mall Development, but hasn’t been able to serve the notices to someone in charge.

Police say they’ve made 154 visits to the building in the past six months, but tenants say officers often won’t come into the building or intervene even when they are being hunted in the building’s unlit halls by armed men acting in the name of Union Mall Development.

Police say there’s little they can do when complainants don’t come outside of the building to provide information.

With city officials seemingly stymied, Tomoya Tsuruhara, who loaned Union Mall Development $5.2 million to buy the building from him, has asked the court to step in as soon as possible. 

Tsuruhara wants Hawaiʻi Circuit Court Judge Shirley Kawamura to install an independent third party known as a receiver to manage the property while Tsuruhara tries to get Union Mall Development and its former principals, Chad Waters and Scott Bingo, to make good on mortgage payments Tsuruhara alleges they’ve never made.

The building, Tsuruhara’s lawyer says in a motion, is wasting away.

“Some examples of the Property’s dilapidated condition include, failing air conditioning, broken elevators, potable and wastewater leakage, pest infestations, and electrical hazards,” attorney Chris St. Sure wrote. “The worsening condition of the Property is a textbook example of the types of waste a receiver is intended to prevent or cease.”

Tenant Can’t Enforce Court Orders

Judges have been siding with building tenants in recent months, dismissing eviction cases and denying requests by Union Mall Development to remove people who the company says aren’t paying rent. But it appears there’s little more the courts can do besides issuing orders that Union Mall Development doesn’t follow.

The court orders have made it impossible for Union Mall Development to lawfully remove its tenants. But that hasn’t corrected the building’s squalid conditions, and residents say they’re now being subjected to harassment and assaults by people purporting to be Union Mall Development employees in what amount to extrajudicial evictions.

In the case of DOHO Suites, a commercial tenant, District Court Judge Thomas Haia ordered Union Mall Development to restore electricity to DOHO Suites’ floors. That hasn’t happened. Additionally, Haia ordered Union Mall Development to not restrict DOHO Suites’ access to its floors. That, too, hasn’t helped, as Union Mall Development staff continue to hinder DOHO Suites’ tenants from entering the building, according to DOHO Suites’ principal, Rex Matsuo.

Police tell him they can’t enforce Haia’s order, Matsuo said. In a written statement, HPD acting Maj. Henry Roberts said officers are instructed to review any documentation provided to them on scene and to enforce all valid court orders.

“If any person reports criminal activity, including assault or unlawful entry, officers are required to initiate a case and conduct the appropriate investigation,” Roberts added.

Particularly frustrating, Matsuo says, is that Haia already has found Union Mall Development in contempt of court for not restoring services. A spokesperson for the judiciary declined to comment.

Matsuo’s next court date is in January. But to Matsuo, that seems like a long time to wait.

“It’s up to the judge to decide what to do,” he said. “The cops can’t do anything.”

City Officials Have Been Slow To Act

The Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting also appears hamstrung. In a letter filed as part of Tsuruhara’s request to put a third party in charge of the building, DPP director Dawn Takeuchi Apuna outlines a raft of notices issued against Union Mall Development for violations such as unpermitted construction and change of use from office to residential.

None of the notices “have been accepted to date by the responsible party, Chad Waters,” Apuna wrote. 

Mike Formby, managing director for Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi, said the city has concerns about code violations in the building — and the potential for bad outcomes.

“There’s a high risk something could happen,” he said.

The city is seeking permission from Union Mall Development to conduct inspections, Formby said. If the city can’t get permission from the owner, Formby said, it will obtain it through the courts — although he didn’t say when that would happen.

If the building were deemed unsafe, Formby said the city’s Department of Community Services would help tenants find new housing.

Business registration records indicate Waters established Union Mall Development Group LLC in August 2023 and Scott Bingo of Kailua was brought in as a co-manager the next month. In April 2024, court records say, Union Mall Development acquired the property from Tsuruhara.

By all accounts from the tenants, Waters was the one who issued residential leases to them for office suites, in some cases offering opportunities to offset rent by doing work around the building.

But recently Waters has downplayed his involvement. In August, Union Mall Development brought in as co-manager JAZ Capital LLC, a Florida entity owned by Jasim and Aiza Alidina, two doctors who live in Kakaʻako. Union Mall Development’s business registration lists JAZ Capital and Bingo as managers while Waters is now the LLC’s agent.

Bingo has said he’s not involved in building management. Aiza Alidina did not respond to a written request for comment delivered to her office by hand.

Water’s denies being responsible for the building. In a text message, Waters said his only role is overseeing “the design, permitting and future construction of the conversion to student housing.” Jeffrey Rich, a spokesman for nearby Hawaiʻi Pacific University, said it has not been involved in any discussions about student housing at 1136 Union Mall.

‘They’re Hunting Me’

As the building slid into further disarray in November, with Union Mall Development representatives skipping court dates, social media influencer Elijah McShane showed up with a group of masked men who have since been restricting access to the building.

McShane told Civil Beat they were hired by Union Mall Development. He acknowledged he is not a licensed security guard. Initially, earlier this month, there were licensed security guards from HiBred Protection LLC on site. But HiBred quit earlier this month, said Elijah Apulu, a company representative.

Earlier this month, Hawaiʻi District Judge Shellie Park-Hoapili had dismissed Union Mall Development’s eviction case against one couple, Michael James and Alison Zaborsky. At the time, James saw the victory as hollow, expressing fear that armed men who had been in the building the previous week wouldn’t care that the judge had dismissed the case.

On Wednesday, James and Zaborsky said men who said they represented the owner pounded on the door of their unit, demanding to be let in.

The couple documented the encounter in an audio recording in which one man says, “You just have to leave the building,” while Zaborsky explains the judge dismissed the eviction case.

At one point, one of the men says, “I’m going to give you 30 seconds to open this door.”

“They’re hunting me … Please, help me.”

Vassili Zakharov, 1136 Union Mall Tenant

Tensions heightened, James says, when one of the men knocked a hole in the wall with a hammer and tried to reach through it with a golf club to unlock the door from the inside. James says he fended off the golf club with a machete.

“If you guys don’t get out of the building,” one of the men said in the recording, “we’re going to have these guys forcibly remove you guys.”

The recording supports James’ claim that he and Zaborsky tried to get the police to intervene.

Roberts, the acting HPD major, confirmed that police received multiple calls reporting various incidents at 1136 Union Mall on Wednesday.

“But when officers arrived, no one came out to meet with them or provide information,” he said. “Without a complainant, officers are limited in what they do.”

In one instance, Roberts said, a 38-year-old male said he had been struck repeatedly with an unknown object by an unknown person. Another incident involved a complaint of a threat by building security, but Roberts said, “No one came forward to provide a statement when officers arrived.” In yet another incident, he said, the officer initiated a felony theft case involving a generator.

Over the weekend, things took a turn for the worse for Vassili Zakharov, who rents a unit on the building’s sixth floor. Zakharov and others said he was beaten with a baton and sprayed with mace by what appeared to be building staff members.

Contacted by Civil Beat on Sunday afternoon, Zakharov answered his phone whispering, his voice cracking. 

“They’re hunting for me,” he said. “They’re all over the building with billy clubs and bear mace.”

“Please, help me,” he said, before abruptly ending the call.

Zakharov later said he had been hiding on the building’s fourth floor at the time of the call. He later went back to his unit and left with what possessions he could carry. His lease expires at the end of this month, he said, and he plans to leave. 

In the meantime, he asks, “When is this going to stop?”

That may be up to Kawamura, the judge presiding over Tsuruhara’s foreclosure case. A hearing on the motion to appoint a receiver to take over management of the property is set for Jan. 15. That’s too late, Tsuruhara’s lawyers say. They’ve asked the judge to advance the hearing to the next available date on the court’s calendar.

Civil Beat’s reporting on economic inequality is supported by the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation as part of its work to build equity for all through the CHANGE Framework; and by the Cooke Foundation.