UH site ‘ideal’
but for parkingProperty in Kakaako slated
for a cancer center may not have
enough space for patients' cars
The location of a University of Hawaii Cancer Research Center with clinical facilities next to the new John A. Burns School of Medicine in Kakaako may hinge on parking availability.
In a recent memorandum to the Board of Regents, acting UH President David McClain said a 5.5-acre site Ewa of the medical school is considered ideal for a new comprehensive cancer center offering clinical care for patients.
But he said the space may not be adequate for a clinical facility. If necessary, he said, UH administrators will talk to the Hawaii Community Development Authority, which oversees development of the Kakaako waterfront, about other lands that might be available.
"In such an instance, we would likely propose to use public-private partnerships to construct the clinical facility," he said.
"My concern is easy and plenty of parking," said Dr. Carl-Wilhelm Vogel, Cancer Research Center director.
The clinical facility, a proposed addition to the center's research programs, would offer patients new drugs and therapies now available only on the mainland, he said.
"If you have patients, families and doctors going back and forth, the cancer center is a service entity," Vogel said. "You cannot have regional parking three blocks away. If your mother is sick and you drive her to the cancer center, you don't want to circle five times around the block to get parking."
The HCDA has given the UH a third extension, until Nov. 30, for exclusive negotiations for the cancer center site. The agency wants a permanent parking plan for both the cancer center and medical school, said HCDA Executive Director Daniel Dinell.
About two-thirds of the cancer center site is being used temporarily by the medical school, he noted.
The UH also is required by Nov. 30 to provide documents regarding a process to obtain qualifications of developers or a request for development proposals, a business plan and timetable for the Cancer Research Center, he said.
Jan Yokota, UH director of capital improvements who previously headed the HCDA, said efforts are focused on the 5.5-acre site. "We're looking at what could go into that site and how to address parking needs," she said. If other lands are needed, she said a formal request will be made to the HCDA.
She noted that UH has a permit for a 180,000-square-foot building in the second phase of the 10-acre medical school complex. Its use hasn't been determined and no money is available for it, she said, but "clearly, if that moves forward, it will add to parking needs for the university in that area."
The HCDA board also asked UH to provide a report on development of the second phase of the medical school and relocation of the Pacific Biomedical Research Center at the Kakaako point, Dinell said.
McClain reported to regents that a number of nationally noted private developers have expressed interest in building the Cancer Research Center.
Regents gave the administration approval to move ahead on a qualifications process for development of the center.
Vogel said this represents a change in the way the university does business because the construction won't involve capital improvement appropriations from the Legislature.
Instead, he said a private developer would foot the bill to put up the facility. The UH would use it under a long-term lease and pay off the principal as federal and philanthropic money became available, he said. "It would allow us to get started with construction before we have money in the bank."
Construction costs are estimated roughly at $100 million to $130 million, depending on the building's square footage and cost of a parking structure, Vogel said.
When the Legislature provided $150 million in revenue bonds to build the medical school, former UH President Evan Dobelle said he would raise $150 million for the new cancer center and renovations to the existing medical school.
Since July 1, 2002, a little more than $700,000 has been raised privately for the cancer center, said Lori Abe of the UH Foundation.
Through efforts of U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, $8.5 million is included in the federal defense budget to develop a clinical partnership between UH and Tripler Army Medical Center.
Another measure is pending to provide $8 million this year for capital improvements for the cancer center, according to Inouye's office.
The center's expanded programs and staffing have outgrown its present five-story building at 1236 Lauhala St. next to the Queen's Medical Center.
Vogel said when he arrived at the center in 1999, it was drawing about $16.3 million annually in grants and federal funding for cancer-related research -- a figure that has jumped to $39.4 million.
The addition of a clinical facility with the new center would attract significant research funding to UH and patients would also benefit, Vogel said.
Besides collaborating with Tripler, the Cancer Research Center has partnerships with Hawaii Pacific Health and the Hawaii Health Systems Corp. hospitals.
Dew-Anne Langcaon, Hawaii Pacific Health executive vice president, said, "Our goal as providers would be to ensure a smooth and seamless access to all aspects of care that a cancer patient needs and to end the complexities of navigating the fragmented system of care for patients affected by cancer."
Hawaii Health Systems spokesman Miles Takaaze said the state-private partnership would give neighbor islanders "enhanced access to clinical trials for innovative drugs and treatment protocols in their own communities" so they wouldn't have to travel to Oahu or the mainland.
Cancer Research Center of Hawaii
www.crch.org
UH John A. Burns School of Medicine
hawaiimed.hawaii.edu