DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
A signing ceremony was held yesterday aboard the USS Missouri for a Ford Island construction contract. Attending were Adm. Walter Doran, left, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet; Roy Yee, representing Fluor Hawaii; U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye; U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie; and Lt. Cmdr. Charlene Mowery.
Plans set for Ford
Island developmentOfficials say the deal will bring
the isles at least $180 million
The Navy has completed the final arrangements on a multimillion-dollar Ford Island redevelopment project.
The contract between the Navy, Fluor Hawaii and Hunt Building Co. was signed yesterday on the battleship USS Missouri, moored at Ford Island as a floating museum. The developers estimated that initially the deal means more than $180 million will be spent in the islands.
It will be funded by a combination of conventional military construction appropriations from Congress, and sale or lease of four Navy properties at Barbers Point, Iroquois Point, Waikele Naval Magazine and Halawa Landing.
U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, chief architect of this public/private-sector partnership, said he expects construction of new Navy housing, office space, restaurants, a museum, commercial developments and training facilities will begin next year.
Inouye said the method of financing had to be altered because financially there was no other way to do the project.
"But it was something that had to be done because public taxpayers' moneys were not available," he said.
Navy planners have said that it would have taken 30 years to complete the massive construction using traditional planning and funding sources.
The Navy received legal authority to begin this type of financing and development in 1999 under legislation that Inouye authored, the senator said.
The Navy envisions a development with a maximum of 420 family housing units, bachelor-enlisted quarters for 1,000 personnel, 190,000 square feet of office space for 1,500 additional employees and a training complex.
Under the 1999 congressional legislation, Hunt and Fluor have the authority to:
>> Develop and operate commercial ventures on 34 acres on the south side of Ford Island. These projects could be a Navy air museum or visitor center, an information technological-communications center or an oceanographic/biomedical research complex.
>> Lease 6.6 acres at Halawa Landing, between the USS Bowfin Museum and the USS Arizona Memorial, to support visitor operations and shuttle bus and boat services.
>> Lease 322 acres where 1,469 single-family and duplex housing units now used by Navy personnel are located, at Iroquois Point and Puuloa near the entrance to Pearl Harbor.
>> Sell 515 acres at the Waikele Naval Magazine, which was formerly used to store ammunition, but only 52 acres of which are considered developable.
>> Sell 675 acres at the former Barbers Point Naval Air Station, which includes 548 housing units and commercial, industrial and recreational facilities but does not include the popular golf course.
U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie said other mainland bases looking to build or renovate Navy housing will use Ford Island as a model.
"We are providing the innovation here in Hawaii," he said.
The agreement also means that 2,000 homes will be added to Oahu's rental housing market, said James Hunt, executive vice president for Hunt Building Co., referring to the naval housing units at Iroquois Point and Barbers Point that will be open to the public.
The Navy already has begun construction of a Navy lodge -- a hotel for military personnel -- on Ford Island under a separate $19.6 million contract. That job is 70 percent completed and will open in October. Under another housing appropriation, $36.7 million has been spent to renovate 140 housing units on Ford Island. Completion date is May 2004.
Ford Island is named after Dr. Seth Porter Ford, a physician who owned the island in the mid-1800s.
