After reviewing the construction progress, the Convention Center board approved the purchase of $1.1 million worth of art works and the hiring of a general manager to operate the center.
The board also gave its executive director, Alan Hayashi, approval to wrap up a contract with the firm chosen to manage the center, Spectacor Management Group, subject to finalizing some legal details.
Hayashi and Don Takaki, board chairman, said details of the contract, including the fees to be paid to Spectacor, will not be made public until the contract is signed in about two weeks.
They did say, however, that SMG's fees will be below the national average for such management contracts.
The board approved SMG's appointment of Lynn Thompson, currently the interim general manager of the Miami Beach Convention Center, as general manager of the local center at the gateway to Waikiki.
Philadelphia-based SMG, which operates 22 convention centers across the United States and in Europe, was selected in late February as the winner out of two finalists for the convention center management contract.
Design consultant Ty Sutton said change orders in the design and construction contract, 80 so far, are running well within what is normal on such a big project and are also well within the $5 million allowance for such changes that was built into the contract.
Some of the changes in design involved strengthening the structure to resist hurricanes so it could be used as temporary shelter for 20,000-30,000 people from Waikiki in a natural disaster, Sutton said.
Construction is scheduled for completion in October 1997 and the center is to be open for business in mid-1998.
The art works for the center were commissioned from eight Hawaii artists.