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State seeking to The downtown Honolulu Post Office building, subject of many designs and proposals since the U.S. Postal Service put it on the market in the mid-1990s, has another suitor, the state government.
purchase downtown
post office site
A location is sought for
the Department of Commerce
and Consumer AffairsBy Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.com
The Department of Accounting and General Services, the state's property manager, has announced it wants to bid for two-thirds of the property at King and Richards streets. Department officials said they want to buy the property to become a new location for the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, now located diagonally across King Street in the Kamamalu Building. That building is getting run down and it is time for a move, state officials said.
Why two-thirds of the building and not the whole 2.6-acre complex?
"That is because there is an intention by the Post Office to consider a possible condominium on the property, so they can retain their occupancy and ownership of those areas that they want," said a department official, Ivan Nishiki. "The rest could be sold to potential developers."
The state's interest was disclosed in the agenda for a Board of Land and Natural Resources hearing to be held at 9 a.m. Friday in the Kalanimoku Building behind Honolulu Hale. The department needs Land Board approval before it can talk to the federal government about the property.
The purchase money would come from Commerce and Consumer Affairs special funds for fiscal years 2002 and 2003, the state's application said.
The six-story fee-simple building that runs from Merchant Street through to King Street houses the Honolulu post office, 38,000 square feet on the ground floor, and another 137,000 square feet of office space, currently vacant. In 1996 the Postal Service agreed to sell the non-post office part of the building to local developers Russell Allen and Harold Spector, who came out with plans for a $58 million Galleria Shopping Center, with restaurants, a wedding chapel and high-end shops.
They agreed to pay $14.2 million. Included in was an expansion of the post office.
In 2000, the Postal Service canceled the deal because the developers had failed to obtain financing. In April 2001, the Postal Service put the property up for sale and has attracted some interest, real estate sources say, but no firm offer has come.
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs had looked at the building for a new headquarters, but has taken no action.
The front portion of the historic building was completed in the early 1920s and the King Street front portion was finished in 1930. The building is in the Spanish colonial style used by Honolulu Hale and some other old buildings locally. The building has virtually no parking but a courtyard on the inside and wide walkways under cover in front and on the Richards Street side.
Square feet: 175,000 Post office
Location: Corner of King and Richards Streets
Previous suitors: Developers Russell Allen and Harold Spector; Office of Hawaiian Affairs