UH keeps site
options open
for med school

The governor favors Kakaako,
but UH also is looking at several
other areas on Oahu

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By B.J. Reyes
breyes@starbulletin.com

The University of Hawaii says it will scout other possible locations besides Kakaako for its planned medical school and biotechnology research center, President Evan Dobelle announced. Both facilities were tabbed as key pieces of the governor's plan to develop Kakaako.

In addition to Kakaako, the university will look into the feasibility of building the new facilities at West Oahu, Waipio Gentry and Tripler Army Medical Center. Dobelle said he also has asked Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris to identify potential locales.

"I think at one time (Kakaako) was the site that was the best one in the minds of people and may still well be," Dobelle said at a news conference yesterday. "My concern is what's the right place in all of Oahu to build this.

"I don't think when you make a decision that's going to impact taxpayers for $150 million, you can't look at other sites and make sure you're doing the right thing."

Dobelle said he has spoken with Gov. Ben Cayetano and received his approval.

In his State of the State address in January, Cayetano referred to the development of the new UH facilities, an aquarium and a science and technology center in Kakaako as a "masterpiece of design that will instantly become a worldwide symbol of Honolulu's rebirth."

But in a statement issued yesterday, Cayetano said: "It's understandable that President Dobelle would want to review options for undertaking something this significant.

"A suitable location is chief among the ingredients it will take for the new University of Hawaii medical school and bio-research center to be successful in the long term."

Dobelle said he was "most interested" in the possibility of developing the new facilities in conjunction with the planned UH-West Oahu campus above Kapolei, adding that such a project might also include a new football stadium.

A timetable for any development would depend largely on securing funds from the Legislature, although Dobelle said he had no plans to seek more operating capital. Dobelle said he expects to have a recommendation on a site for the new facilities by Oct. 1.

"At the end of the day, maybe we come back and it is Kakaako," he said. "But the reality is it's important, for $150-plus million, to get it right the first time."