Bankoh plays
Santa to
university

The $1.1 million worth of
donations includes a Hilo
branch building

Star-Bulletin staff

Bank of Hawaii has presented more than $1.1 million in gifts to the University of Hawaii for its capital campaign.

The bank transferred the deed of its former Hilo branch building and property -- valued at more than $1 million -- to the University of Hawaii Foundation. The building and property will be used by the university's Hilo campus and Hawaii Community College.

The bank also presented a $107,500 donation check to the university's academic and athletic scholarship programs. That was the result of a seven-week Triple Rainbow Sweepstakes automated teller machine promotion with Hawaiian Airlines Inc. and 7-Eleven Hawaii Inc.

"The building in Hilo will be wired as a high-tech classroom and as a home for the Small Business Development Center," said Kenneth P. Mortimer, university president.

"This gives us a first-class opportunity to participate in the revitalization of downtown Hilo."

The former Hilo branch at 117 Keawe St. is a two-story masonry building with 9,206 square feet on 19,000 square feet of land.

Bank of Hawaii closed the Hilo branch Sept. 18 and consolidated accounts and services to the nearby Kaikoo branch.

Lawrence M. Johnson, chairman and CEO of bank parent Pacific Century Financial Corp., signed over the Hilo property to the UH in a Tuesday ceremony.