Local developer MW Group and a senior-living provider are proposing to build a 128-bed assisted living facility in Mililani Mauka.

The proposed 72-unit The Plaza at Mililani, on Ukuwai Street, would provide care to elderly residents who are frail or suffer with Alzheimer's disease or other memory impairments, according to a permit application by Ukuwai Properties LLC, a partnership of MW Group Ltd. and Sound Health Hawai'i LLC.

The project, which is awaiting city permits, aims to help fill what many say is a growing need for assisted living facilities here.

There are seven licensed assisted living facilities on O'ahu, but none in Central O'ahu, according to the state Department of Health.

According to a study commissioned by Sound Health Hawai'i, more than 2,000 people 75 years and older live within a five-mile radius of the proposed center, an area encompassing Waipi'o, Mililani and Mililani Mauka.

The residential housing facility, planned for a 35,530-square-foot site next to the Olaloa Retirement Community, would have four stories and a basement.

The facility would offer residents 24-hour assistance and provide them three meals a day in common-area dining rooms. The center would also include activity and recreational areas and a walkway to Olaloa to encourage interaction between the two communities.

The city Department of Planning and Permitting has scheduled a June 3 public hearing on Ukuwai Properties' permit application.

The center will also require licensing from the state Department of Health.

MW Group CEO and managing partner Stephen Metter said he hopes to start the project in the last quarter of this year and complete it in early 2010. He said the project will probably cost about $25 million.

Sound Health Hawai'i, an affiliate of Washington state-based Sound Health Management Inc., would operate the facility. Sound Health facilities rent units by the month.

MW Group and Sound Health Management previously partnered in developing the 137-bed Plaza at Punchbowl senior living facility, which opened in 2004.

Metter said he and his business partner, Michael Wood, have cared for their aging parents, which inspired them to build the Plaza at Punchbowl.

"It drove Mike and I to want to do something important, something that would be good for aunties and uncles and grandparents," Metter said.

The proposed Mililani facility has the support of the Mililani Mauka/Launani Valley Neighborhood Board as well as the Olaloa board.

Olaloa board president James Toledo said while a few residents in the retirement community have concerns about the height of the building, most residents support the project. He said the proposed center would be another option for seniors.

"As you get older, you need help ... and that would be perfect for our people," Toledo said. "We do have people that need help every so often, and if we had a facility right here, as long as they have an opening, it would be better for them."