5 finalists vie to build
Hawaii cancer center

Selection nears for the developer
of a $200M UH center in Kakaako

One of five development firms will be selected this month by the University of Hawaii to build a Hawaii Cancer Research Center and clinic next to the new medical school in Kakaako.

Dr. Carl-Wilhelm Vogel, center director, said a university request for development qualifications drew 15 good responses from well-known firms, and the top five were selected to present proposals by March 31.

Instead of the usual financing through a state appropriation, the developer will put up the majority of the money for construction under a long-term lease arrangement, Vogel said. Money also will be obtained from federal and philanthropic sources, he added.

He said the center also must issue a contract to a national company to develop a business plan for financing and operation of a cancer center clinic.

The total cost of building the cancer center on a 5.5-acre site Ewa of the medical school's research building is estimated at roughly $200 million, Vogel said.

He said he is worried because "costs are rising almost daily. There is so much construction in China, so much demand for steel, and so much reconstruction in Florida. Building materials have increased significantly."

Vogel said about $10 million is expected for planning and design in this year's federal budget and $8.5 million to develop a clinical partnership with Tripler Army Medical Center. Repeated federal funding is expected in years ahead, he said.

"We are very fortunate and happy that we will be able to tie Tripler into a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center, and expertise at our center will tie in with Tripler."

Any other money the center receives will be used to reduce the rent or debt, he said.

Vogel's dream for the center has been the addition of a clinical facility to offer to cancer patients new therapies and drugs only available now on the mainland.

"It will make a difference in cancer care in Hawaii," he said, pointing out that cancer has been the No. 1 killer in Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and now heads the list of health killers for everyone under 85.

Cancer patients also are expected to increase dramatically because of Hawaii's aging population, he said.

The Cancer Research Center is collaborating with Hawaii Pacific Health and the Hawaii Health Systems Corp. hospitals, as well as Tripler.

"I have tried to convince stakeholders we really need to work together to offer first-rate cancer care in the state," Vogel said.

He said the plan "may be aggressive" but projects completion of the new 360,000-square-foot building by the end of 2008.

Vogel had expressed concern about having adequate parking for the clinical facility but said, "In contrast to the medical school, we made very sure we will have sufficient parking. It will be a little cramped, but it will fit there."

The current building at 1236 Lauhala St., next to the Queen's Medical Center, will eventually be vacated, he said.

"The success of cancer centers nationwide, the National Cancer Institute ones, is to have everybody under one roof ... to further the cause," Vogel said, stressing the importance of applying results of discovery to help patients.