UH-Hilo may get
‘Vulcan Village’

A deal to give OHA
20 percent of revenues made
on the land is all that's stalling the plan

By Rod Thompson
Star-Bulletin

HILO -- A $40 million to $60 million "Vulcan Village" at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, including a Chinese studies center, could break ground next year if the sensitive issue of ceded lands can be resolved, UHH university relations director Gerald De Mello says.

Taiwanese investors have pledged $5.5 million for the project, said acting Chancellor Bill Pearman. "They seem very determined to pull the project off."

All of UHH is now on ceded lands, acreage formerly administered by the Kingdom of Hawaii. In November, another 37 acres of ceded lands were transferred to the university for the village.

The potential problem with those lands is that 20 percent of revenues from commercial activity on them must be paid to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

"That's a real deterrent to investment," Pearman said.

That requirement has led to the evolution of the Vulcan Village concept, De Mello said.

The original idea was linked to the realization that some students find Hilo a dull place to go to school, and they leave after a semester or two.

"In order to retain students, we needed a lot of activity," De Mello said.

During Gov. Ben Cayetano's trip to Taiwan last year, Pearman met with potential investors such as architects, engineers and a trucking company owner, he said.

Several were eager to invest the $500,000 needed under federal law to obtain permanent residency in the United States.

And they proposed as many as 20 facilities including student housing, movie theaters, a fast-food outlet, even a dentist's office, De Mello said.

But they also discovered unfamiliar hurdles such as environmental studies and OHA's 20 percent portion.

But they remained eager. "They go back and regroup. They've been very resilient through the whole thing," Pearman said.

By establishing a Chinese studies center at the village, it and various other facilities such as student housing would be noncommercial, academically oriented, and not subject to the 20 percent.

But Chinese studies is not mere window dressing. Pearman said he was already trying to establish a master's degree program in that area and wants to keep the two proposals separate in hopes that at least one will go through.

The investors are now trying to establish a proposal that will be acceptable to OHA, but nothing formal has yet been presented to its trustees, Pearman said.