HONOLULU — Hawaii state officials have divided a plan to redevelop the site of Aloha Stadium into two parts with private partners determined through separate bids.
Officials said Wednesday that a shortlist of three developers selected last year will compete only to replace the rusted 50,000-seat stadium with a new 35,000-seat stadium, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.
The contract will also include supporting facilities to be operated and maintained by the winning bidder under a long-term land lease.
A separate effort will be made to find private developers for the balance of the state-owned stadium site, which is largely occupied by 7,476 parking stalls, project officials said.
The original plan included a single project to redevelop the entire site with a sports complex, housing and commercial development that could include restaurants, retail, a hotel and other features.
Adam Shaw, executive vice president of WT Partnership, a consultant working with state officials on the public-private venture, said the decision to divide the site redevelopment was made to produce a better project in a more timely fashion.
“The real estate portion that will eventually envelop the stadium and complete the whole site is a process that we’re undertaking in parallel,” Shaw said.
“That’s in recognition that the best-in-class stadium developer may not well be the best-in-class real estate developer, and so the state has undertaken to procure the best potential partner for the stadium and real estate separately,” Shaw said.
The state issued a request for qualifications in March to gauge potential development partners for the stadium and surrounding real estate. Three finalists were selected in December.
A separate request for qualifications covering only the surrounding real estate work is now expected to be published later this year.
Shaw said the state-driven plan, which is largely being led by the Hawaii Department of Accounting and General Services, no longer has a 2023 targeted delivery date for the stadium. The timetable will be dependent on the recommendations of the competing bidders.
The surrounding real estate development is expected to start in 2024 and last 20 years, Shaw said.
They don’t have the money to do this. How many people in Hawai’i want to contribute to a college football team? Tax wise. Not much. It is like living in Herat, Afghanistan doing this project. Nobody from looking at it, knows where to start buying the materials, then sit down to have lunch at Jack In The Box. They are lost. And who cares about starting this project? It is not that important. Do you want to figure the numbers on this? I don’t. Not interested in the building of Aloha Stadium. This is again, a long ways down the road. There is no real cash and no real investment in the project by fans and fans who have money. This project may fail if nothing comes around. Like the real money in the bank already. And not just hearsay by a governor. Big deal on what that guy signed.