COURTESY PHOTO This diagram shows the proposed site of a new Office of Hawaiian Affairs complex on the Kakaako waterfront.

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OHA plans
new home on
Kakaako oceanfront

The complex would
also present "living"
Hawaiian culture

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs wants to build a $32 million oceanfront headquarters in Kakaako that would also serve as a "living" Hawaiian cultural center.

OHA Administrator Clyde Namuo unveiled the agency's preliminary plans yesterday for a three-level office complex, including taro patches and facilities for hula and the Hawaiian martial art of lua.

Namuo said OHA would conduct a feasibility study for the 5.2-acre parcel once it receives a tentative go-ahead from the state Hawaii Community Development Authority, which controls the land.

From there, OHA will seek a long-term lease from the authority, said Namuo, who noted that the entire project could be completed in 2 1/2 years.

"When we looked around at Hawaiian cultural centers, there is none on our entire island. We saw this as a significant void," said Namuo.

The complex will be more of a "living cultural center" than one that houses exhibits and artifacts, he said.

The property, which lies on ceded lands at the Ewa end of Kakaako Waterfront Park, is occupied by a 70,000-square-foot warehouse whose tenants are on month-to-month leases.

Namuo provided preliminary details of OHA's plans during a regular meeting of the development authority's board.

He said OHA has asked the state to pick up about half of the construction costs, since a large portion of the property will be dedicated to community use. The state Senate recently approved a bill providing about $6 million in funding, Namuo said.

He said OHA also is looking at several alternatives, including selling bonds, to pay for costs.

The development authority's executive director, Daniel Dinell, said OHA's proposal provides a "cultural bookend" to efforts to redevelop Kakaako.

Besides the recently completed John A. Burns School of Medicine, the University of Hawaii is building the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii next to the OHA property, while the HCDA is reviewing proposals to redevelop 36.5 acres along Kewalo Basin.

Kamehameha Schools also plans to redevelop the Honolulu Ford property on Ala Moana.

"The fact that it's more than a headquarters in that it incorporates a cultural center is exciting for us," Dinell said.

OHA leases about 20,000 square feet of office space for its current headquarters at 711 Kapiolani Blvd. According to Namuo, the agency pays about $1 million a year in rent.

In 2002, OHA looked at leasing the nearby Ala Moana pump station property but shelved the plan due to cost. Redeveloping the 105-year-old sewage pumping station would have cost as much as $200 million, Namuo said.

Before that, OHA and Kamehameha Schools looked into relocating OHA's offices to the Bishop Museum in Kalihi.

That proposal, spearheaded by Kamehameha Schools, called for the development of a $50 million Hawaiian cultural center to house various Hawaiian agencies and alii trusts.

Namuo stressed that OHA and its trustees regard themselves as a transitional agency that will dissolve once Congress recognizes Hawaiians' sovereign status and Hawaiians set up their own government. When that happens, the complex likely will be transferred to that entity, he said.

"Ultimately this will become part of the new native Hawaiian governing entity," he said.