A state agency today approved a conceptual master plan for the owner of Ward Centers to redevelop 60 acres of its land in Kaka'ako into a dense urban village of largely residences and retail that could include 20 high-rise buildings.

The approval by the Hawai'i Community Development Authority followed a public hearing in October at which support and opposition was about evenly split among roughly 50 people who testified on the project dubbed Ward Neighborhood.

Today's vote by agency board members gives landowner General Growth Properties a broad framework to redevelop its largely retail property over 15 years.

The framework is based on present agency development rules defining such things as maximum density, building heights and requirements to provide public facilities and housing reserved for people with moderate incomes.

General Growth said development isn't expected to begin until 2010 with an initial phase comprising a central pedestrian plaza replacing old warehouses and Ward Farmers Market up to Auahi Street.