Public safety building making progress

Kaua’i County officials say construction of the new combined police and prosecuting attorney’s headquarters off Kapule Highway in Lihu’e is “on schedule” for a planned opening in late July or early August next year.

Currently, the building, which is located behind Kaua’i Veterans Center across the highway from Lihu’e Airport, is being hurricane-proofed. The county received a $1.3 million Federal Emergency Management Agency grant to complete the hardening of the walls, roof and windows.

Structural steel and concrete work on the new building is completed.

The building’s contractor, Shioi Construction, is currently working Monday through Friday.

“We’re pleased with the quality of work that Shioi’s done to date. We are hopeful weather will allow the work to proceed through the winter months as scheduled,” said Doug Haigh, superintendant of the county’s building division.

The building will cover approximately 58,000 square feet. The complex is on an eight-acre site.

A “notice to proceed” for a separate contract for construction of Kaana Road, which will link the project to Kapule Highway, is expected to be issued in January. County spokeswoman Beth Tokioka said the road work will be managed by Amfac.

The county’s civil defense agency will also share the new building.

The last figure quoted for the cost of the project was $18 million. The original estimate in 1998, when the building was first proposed, was $12 million.

The Police Department will soon hire 10 jail guards to work in the new facility, which will be the site of multiple holding cells for prisoners.

The current police headquarters, located near other county offices and the courthouse in Lihu’e, has only a couple tiny cubicles for holding prisoners before they are taken to Kaua’i Community Correctional Center in Wailua.

Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) and mailto:dwilken@pulitzer.net