The owners of the Kukui Gardens complex near Chinatown may have delayed a crucial regulatory filing to avoid upstaging a 2006 fundraiser by U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, according to recent court documents.

In a June 22, 2006, internal memo, Kukui Gardens Corp. attorney Janeen-Ann Olds urged the apartments' owner to file a notice with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to prepay the $2 million balance of a HUD loan. But Olds recommended Kukui Gardens file the notice after Abercrombie's June 26 fundraiser to avoid spoiling the event.

"There was some discussion as to timing and we recommended sometime shortly after Congressman Abercrombie's fundraiser on June 26 — we did not want the notice to upstage his fundraiser," wrote Olds.

"We also later found out that Congressman Abercrombie would be departing Hawai'i that night so sending the notice out after his fundraiser would not put him on the spot during his Hawai'i trip."

Olds did not return calls from The Advertiser.

The prepayment notice was filed July 24. Kukui Gardens' owners said prepayment would allow them to obtain financing for much-needed repairs but tenant groups said the move would eliminate federal oversight of the project and allow them to sell the project without HUD approval.

A longtime proponent for affordable housing, Abercrombie has been supportive of Kukui Gardens' tenants. In June, he sponsored a teleconference where residents questioned HUD officials about the sale of the project.

Abercrombie said there's no connection between the timing of his fundraiser and the date of the prepayment notices' filing and that he doesn't "have a clue" why the memo would link the two.

Abercrombie said he met with Kukui Gardens' representatives, and representatives for Carmel, Kukui Gardens' tenants, government officials and other interested parties to look at the best ways of preserving or expanding affordable housing and mass transit in the downtown area.

"In the end, my concentration is on trying to maximize housing affordability in conjunction with mass transit downtown," he said.

Reach Rick Daysog at rdaysog@honoluluadvertiser.com.