CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM A portrait of Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole adorned the entrance of Hale Kalanianaole, the new Department of Hawaiian Home Lands headquarters, during yesterday's dedication in East Kapolei. Prince Kuhio, whose namesake state holiday was yesterday, served as a congressional delegate and spearheaded passage of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act in 1921.

New hale for homestead hub

A parade helps usher in the Hawaiian Home Lands headquarters

The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands' new building in Kapolei demonstrates a willingness to better serve beneficiaries, a Kapolei resident said yesterday.

"It's the government coming to the people," said Shirley Swinney, who has owned homestead land in Kapolei since 2001.

Swinney was among more than 200 people celebrating the dedication of the department's new headquarters on Prince Kuhio Day with festivities that included a parade, ceremony, food and music.

The building is named Hale Kalanianaole after Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole, who successfully pushed for the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act enacted by Congress in 1922. The legislation provided homestead land for native Hawaiians.

Hawaiian Homes is the first state department to move its entire operation to Kapolei.

The two-story building is 45,000 square feet and cost $21 million. About 125 employees will relocate to Kapolei from Honolulu from April 17 to May 2.

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM Kaimi Cinotn-Germano, 8, admired some Hawaiian weaponry before buying a handcrafted fishhook necklace. Next to him was Alexander Mattos.

More than 60 percent of homesteaders on Oahu live on the Leeward Coast, said Gov. Linda Lingle in a news release. Along with the new headquarters, the department is providing improvements for the University of Hawaii-West Oahu campus, building highways to alleviate traffic congestion and creating more affordable housing, Lingle said.

The department also was the catalyst for other upcoming developments in Kapolei, dubbed Oahu's "Second City," that include the Salvation Army's Kroc Center Hawaii, a $100 million civic center. Officials are almost finished with negotiations for a 67-acre regional shopping center near the building. The shopping center is expected to create more than 3,800 jobs.

"I think his (Prince Kuhio) vision was to see Hawaiian Homes have a perpetual existence, to have an impact just beyond the Hawaiian community. I think our presence here, in moving government here, is setting an example for other departments to do the same," said Kane, also director of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. Lingle said there have been talks about having a couple of other state departments relocate to Kapolei.

Kapolei is slated to become the largest homestead community in the state.

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM Dancers from the Maluohai Resident Association performed hula yesterday at the dedication ceremony of Hale Kalanianaole, the new Department of Hawaiian Home Lands headquarters in East Kapolei. Maluohai is a homestead village in East Kapolei.