Commerce department
moves into new offices
The state employees who try to keep the public from getting ripped off by businesses have a new home.
The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs has relocated most of its offices from the aging Kamamalu Building several hundred feet away to the former U.S. Post Office Building, Customs House and Court Building.
Gov. Linda Lingle and U.S. Postmaster General John Potter are scheduled to mark the move tomorrow morning with a blessing and dedication ceremony at the renovated 81-year-old building renamed a year ago as the King Kalakaua building.
David Kalakaua, Hawaii's seventh monarch from 1874 until his death in 1891, served as Honolulu's postmaster from 1863 to 1865.
The building, at the corner of Richards and Merchant streets, was once headquarters to most federal agencies in Hawaii, including the U.S. District Court.
The state reached a deal last year for Par Development LLC, an affiliate of Denver-based RSD Corp., to buy the building from the U.S. Postal Service for $7 million, restore it, bring the interior up to standards, then sell 120,000 square feet of the 160,000 square-foot property to the state for $32.5 million.
The Postal Service has bought back the rest of the improved space for $1.
Meanwhile, the 46-year-old Kamamalu Building, is expected to undergo renovations to address safety and health concerns, state Comptroller Russ Saito said.