A replacement for Aloha Stadium may be built on parts of the existing condemned facility in Halawa as a way to reduce costs and help meet a 2028 opening timetable.
The strategy is being considered by the project’s tentative developer to produce a “basic” 25,000-seat sports and entertainment complex estimated to cost $450 million.
However, a higher-level “aspirational” option, which could cost $650 million and accommodate preseason professional football games as well as a potential return of the NFL Pro Bowl to Hawaii, also is being explored.
The rough plans were shared recently with a state Senate committee where some members expressed concern over how the project initiated by state leaders many years ago is progressing with a private partner.
Stanford Carr, a local developer leading a team tentatively selected in October to receive $350 million from the state to help build a stadium to be surrounded by new housing, entertainment and other facilities on 98 acres of state land where Aloha Stadium sits today, told the Senate Ways and Means Committee at a Feb. 26 hearing that much work remains preliminary because project agreements with state administrators are still being negotiated.
Such documents include a ground lease, a development agreement, an arrangement to share infrastructure costs, and a stadium operating agreement.
Carr said that producing more detailed plans and feasibility assessments will cost tens of millions of dollars and will proceed after agreements are finalized.
“There’s a lot of moving parts to this,” he told the committee during a hearing on a bill related to stadium redevelopment funding.
Carr and state administrators aim to finalize the agreements by June 30, or possibly earlier.
Brennan Morioka, board chair of the Stadium Authority attached to the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, told the committee that demolishing the existing 50-year-old stadium, where rusting stands suffering from deferred maintenance were closed in 2020, is expected to happen far sooner than previously anticipated because Carr is already working on obtaining demolition permits.
Carr said tearing down the old stadium is expected to take 10 months.
Still, big challenges lie ahead for the stadium and real estate development project collectively known as the New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District.
Carr told the committee that $179 million worth of infrastructure work will be needed in an initial phase that includes the stadium, roads, utilities and a pedestrian promenade from the city’s nearby Skyline rail station to a new stadium. This sum includes $32 million to relocate existing infrastructure around the perimeter of Aloha Stadium.
The partnership led by Carr, Aloha Halawa District Partners, also is looking at possibly having to raise $279 million to deliver a “basic” $450 million stadium, even with using $350 million from the state, given the additional $100 million stadium cost plus $179 million in infrastructure.
Carr told Ways and Means members that he intends to seek City and County of Honolulu approval to use tax-free financing supported by new property tax revenue from future development in the area to help pay for the stadium. The funding tools, Community Facilities District bonds and Tax Increment Financing, would help reduce expenses to build the public facility.
Another way Carr is looking at potentially keeping costs down is to reuse concrete structures at the north and south ends of Aloha Stadium as part of a new stadium. Carr also told the committee that a new stadium could initially be built with three sides followed by a fourth side as a future addition.
Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, Ways and Means chair, mentioned during the hearing that there was talk about a potential private donation that also could help fund the project.
To accommodate such a possibility, the bill being discussed, Senate Bill 1589, was amended to put parameters on how any donated funds could be spent.
Gov. Josh Green over the last few months has been talking with organizations about possibly contributing money to the project, according to the Office of the Governor.
“With additional infrastructure funding, we will have the ability to enhance the stadium scope and ensure that we deliver a facility that better serves the broader needs of our community,” the office said in a statement.
Dela Cruz (D, Mililani-Wahiawa-Whitmore Village) said at the outset of the Feb. 26 hearing that he wanted to understand the project’s status because of an earlier impression that the developer can’t finance the cost of a new stadium beyond the state’s contribution.
Carr gave that impression to a different Senate committee earlier in February during a hearing on a bill that proposed allowing a casino at the stadium project.
At this earlier hearing, Carr said there were a lot of project feasibility shortfalls. At one point, in response to a question about what would happen without the casino bill passing, he said, “Realistically we would be pencils down and walk away from the project.”
At the more recent hearing, Carr restated his view to say the casino bill, which did not advance, would have provided a jolt of adrenaline for surrounding real estate development that helps support the project’s centerpiece that is expected to have more operating expenses than revenue.
“A stadium is a black hole,” he said. “It’s like owning a boat.”
Profits from real estate development surrounding a new stadium are intended to provide a financial return for the development team’s investment in a new stadium and support long-term operations and maintenance.
Development around a new stadium is expected to be done in four phases over 25 to 30 years, Carr said.
The development team also has the potential to receive sponsorship revenue, which could be tied to a name for a new stadium, that helps offset stadium development or operating costs.
Sen. Donna Kim (D, Kalihi-Fort Shafter-Red Hill) questioned the viability of a $650 million stadium, which Morioka called aspirational, given that the development team needs to potentially raise over $200 million just to build a basic $450 million stadium.
“It’s clear that the Legislature provided $350 million, and yet you folks are going beyond that, which is aspirational. But is the aspirational going to eventually derail this whole project after all of this time?” she said. “That’s what it seems like.
“You’re pulling at straws like a casino,” Kim continued. “You’re going to get more money here, get more money there. But I think the reality has got to be, can you build us a $350 million stadium?”
Morioka said the basic stadium and more aspirational version are both being explored at what is still a relatively early stage.
“I think they’re working on both approaches simultaneously,” he said.
