Regents OK
West Oahu planA permanent campus
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Construction of a permanent campus for the University of Hawaii-West Oahu in Kapolei built with private funding is a step closer to reality after a Board of Regents committee approved a long-range plan for the campus yesterday and the concept of a private-public partnership to build it.
University officials hope to finance the $69 million to $88 million cost of the first phase of construction by selling off development rights to 169 acres next to the campus. The land is part of 500 acres next to the proposed North South Road and the Kapolei Golf Course set aside for the UH-West Oahu campus.
Jan Yokota, UH director of capital improvements, told the regents yesterday that she would like to prepare a request for qualifications to see if there are developers interested in building a commercial and residential development on the 169 acres of state land in exchange for constructing infrastructure and the first four buildings of a UH-West Oahu campus on an adjacent 97-acre site.
The rest of the 500 acres is reserved for expansion of the university, parks, an elementary school, roads, open space and utilities.
Yokota said the university would be willing to sell or lease the 169 acres, help the developer obtain proper zoning, and prepare design and construction drawings for phase one of the campus.
In exchange, the developer would build sewer, water, electrical infrastructure and roads to the campus. The developer would also build a central plaza and pedestrian malls, parking areas, an administration and student services building, a campus center, library and central air conditioning plant.
Acting UH President David McClain said the accrediting body for UH-West Oahu has told the university the portables at the current site next to Leeward Community College are not acceptable and that a permanent campus must be built.
"We clearly need a new facility," he said.
McClain said he envisions UH-West Oahu to continue as a two-year upper-division school for the immediate future. Eventually, university officials want the campus to offer teaching and nursing degrees and expand to a four-year university.
But he said expansion would take place "not too fast, at the right speed."
The long-range development plan approved yesterday by the regents' committee calls for the construction and expansion of the campus in phases during 10 years.
There are about 800 students at UH-West Oahu. Construction of the first phase of the permanent campus would allow the school to expand to up to 1,520 students.
Eventually in the next 10 years, the campus could grow to up to 7,600 students at a cost of about $350 million.
Regent Kitty Lagareta said the board is only approving the plan as a first step of exploring the process of constructing a permanent UH-West Oahu campus.
Newly appointed regent Andres Albano Jr. expressed hope that the public-private partnership would allow the university to build the first phase of the project without state funds.
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