Cancer center
to cost $200M

UH adds a clinic and parking to
the facility, boosting the price
by at least $70 million

The University of Hawaii is seeking a private developer to finance, design and build its Cancer Research Center in Kakaako at an estimated cost of about $200 million, at least $70 million higher than previous projections.

Growing Concept Here is what the University of Hawaii wants in the new Cancer Research Center: Research and laboratory: 90,000 square feet Administration office and conference: 90,000 square feet Outpatient cancer care, prevention and ancillary services: 60,000 square feet Leasable physician offices: 80,000 square feet Service and support: 40,000 square feet Parking: 700 to 800 spaces

"It will put Hawaii on the map in cancer research and cancer care around the country," said center Director Dr. Carl-Wilhelm Vogel.

Plans for the center now include a multistory parking structure and an outpatient treatment facility.

University and cancer center officials met with about 40 people yesterday who might be interested in participating in the project.

The center's estimated cost has climbed from projections this summer of between $100 million and $130 million because of the addition of the treatment facility and parking structure, said Jan Yokota, UH director of capital improvements.

The height of the 360,000-square-foot center could reach 100 feet, the maximum allowed on the 5.5-acre site next to the new $150 million John A. Burns School of Medicine.

The tallest medical school building is about 75 feet, and the facility has about 336,500 square feet on 10 acres.

The federal government is providing $10 million for planning and design of the project, part of $600 million for Hawaii in the spending bill approved Wednesday by President Bush.

According to a request for qualifications issued by the university this month, UH is looking for three to five developers who have the experience and financial ability to build the center. The developers who qualify will be invited to submit detailed plans that include financing.

Interested developers have until Jan. 5 to submit their qualifications. The finalists will be selected on Jan. 21 and notified on Jan. 24.

UH officials said the developers would be evaluated on their experience and expertise, creativity, ability to arrange financing, leadership and organizational ability, financial resources, project management capability, ability to work with government agencies and understanding of the local environment.

The goal is to select a developer by summer and complete the building by 2008.

"We're trying to do it without state funding," Yokota said. The financing of the center will be a key part of selecting the developer, she added.

"We're looking for the developers to offer some creative options," she said.

Among the possibilities: Developers could lease the building back to the state, come up with some kind of joint ownership or finance it through the issuance of tax-free special-purpose revenue bonds, Yokota said.

The center would generate revenue from research grants and the leasing of office and clinical space, she said.

Vogel said private fund raising might also play a role.

The outpatient clinic and parking for patients and staff are a key part of the center, Vogel said.

"Clinical research and clinical care are inseparable," he said.

Vogel noted that as the population gets older, cancer cases are likely to increase.

With the outpatient clinic, the center will be able to participate in more innovative experimental drug trials, he said.

Patients who now have to travel to the mainland to get some of the newest drugs and treatments will be able to be treated here, Vogel said.

The primary purpose of the center will be to improve cancer care in Hawaii. The facility could also attract patients from Asia and the Pacific, he added.

The state is hoping that investment in the medical school and the Cancer Research Center in Kakaako will spark the development of a potentially lucrative biotechnology industry in Hawaii.

Consultants who looked at other biomedical and health science complexes on the mainland and in Asia told the Board of Regents in October that it was possible to develop a successful project.

However, they noted that the most successful biotech complexes came about only through financial commitment and investment lasting for decades.