Replacing Aloha Stadium has advanced a step closer to initiation, but the new facility is now slated to be smaller and completed later than previously planned.
A state board overseeing the long-envisioned project voted unanimously Wednesday to initiate a ground lease and an agreement for Aloha Halawa Development Partners to develop and operate a new stadium.
But the positive news that allows AHDP, a private partnership led by local developer Stanford Carr, to begin demolishing the old stadium by the end of August was tempered by pushing back the projected completion date of a new stadium to March 2029 from fall of 2028.
“It has to do with the logistics of construction,” said Brennon Morioka, former stadium authority chair, who is also dean of the University of Hawaii at Manoa College of Engineering and Gov. Josh Green’s special advisor on the New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District project.
“A few years ago we set August of 2028 as the target, but always knew it was an aggressive schedule. We could see where there are costs and supply chain challenges for Hawaiian Dredging and AHDP,” Morioka said. “We also looked at December 2028, but that would have also been aggressive and not realistic.”
Also, the capacity of the new football, soccer and rugby stadium — originally set for around 25,000 — is now planned for 22,500, including 10 luxury boxes, according to Morioka, who said more seating could be added in the future. “Everything will be expandable,” he said.
“Both sides are not happy about moving back the date, but we’re trying to be as transparent as possible,” Morioka added.
The change in target completion date would mean the UH football team will continue to play home games at the much smaller-capacity on-campus Ching Field four more seasons instead of three.
UH Athletic Director Matt Elliott took the set-back timetable for delivering a new stadium in stride, and called Wednesday’s approvals by the Stadium Authority a major step forward for the new stadium and future of UH Athletics.
“For the university, this project is about building a world-class venue that reflects Hawaii’s pride and passion for athletics, elevates the game-day experience and strengthens our competitive standing,” Elliott said in a statement. “We are excited about the momentum reflected by today’s actions, grateful for the progress and fully committed to supporting the work ahead to make this vision a reality for our student-athletes, fans and community.”
Board members of the Stadium Authority, a state agency, authorized the head of the agency, interim Stadium Manager Chris Sadayasu, to sign a ground lease and a stadium development operating agreement with AHDP. This is expected to happen by the end of August.
There are two other pieces of the contract, a master development agreement tied to redeveloping land around the stadium, and an easement and shared infrastructure agreement. But these complex agreements don’t need to be signed now for AHDP to begin demolishing the stadium and developing the new one, Morioka said.
“We are still going through the legalese on those,” he said. “What we’re doing today allows us to continue on the critical path of demolition (and design).”
The board expressed satisfaction after emerging from an executive session meeting before its vote.
“We’ve come so far just to get started,” Stadium Authority Chair Eric Fujimoto said after the vote. “Today we met the challenge. Today we’re starting our journey.”
The stadium is part of a first phase of the NASED development, which includes an envisioned new community on 78 acres in Halawa surrounding 20 acres occupied by the stadium to be developed via a public-private partnership over the course of 20 years or more.
AHDP is the master developer and will use $350 million of state funds appropriated by the Legislature toward developing, building, operating and maintaining the stadium for 30 years.
The developer is expected to also invest in the construction of the new stadium, currently anticipated to cost about $475 million.
Planned uses for land around the new stadium include retail, entertainment, a hotel and around 4,500 homes.
Stadium Authority board member Andrew Pereira said specific plans for such development in phases will be subject to board approval.
If the project progresses as expected, it would realize a more than decade-old vision to replace the 50,000-seat Aloha Stadium, which opened 50 years ago and was closed to spectator use at the end of 2020 after years of deferred maintenance and soaring maintenance costs.
Fujimoto noted that the Stadium Authority started discussion about a new facility in 2002, when Charles Togochi chaired the board. He added that when Ross Yamasaki was chair, Yamasaki had the courage to approach the Legislature and executive branch for $350 million.
Fujimoto also applauded Morioka — his predecessor — for leading negotiations with Carr and AHDP.
“It literally took a village, that’s going to continue to work hard,” Fujimoto said.
Carr declined comment Wednesday due to the still-tentative status of the deal with the state.
Other lead equity members of AHDP are the U.S. development arm of Japanese construction firm Kajima Corp. doing business as Development Ventures Group Inc., Massachusetts-based energy systems firm Ameresco Inc. and an affiliate of Maryland-based development firm The Cordish Cos.
There are also other design, construction and engineering firms that are part of AHDP, including RMA Architects, Populous, SB Architects, Henning Larsen, Alakea Design Group, WCIT Architects, Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co., AECOM Hunt, Castle &Cooke Hawai‘i and Wilson Okamoto Corp.
Source: The Garden Island
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