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POSTED: Friday, September 26, 2008
                       

This story has been corrected. See below.

Until a few weeks ago, it looked like there finally was progress in a public-private partnership to build badly needed student housing for the University of Hawaii at Hilo in exchange for rights to develop a hotel/retail and conference center complex on state land.

The developer, Bridgecreek Development International, and UH-Hilo even scheduled a groundbreaking ceremony in June for the U.S.-China Center project next to the campus.

Then the credit crisis hit and the company couldn't get a loan to build the student housing, said John Carlson, Bridgecreek's president.

Carlson said the company is now redesigning the project. Instead of four large multistory dorms, Bridgecreek is looking to build a complex of two-story walk-up garden apartments to house at least 800 students.

The redesigned project would cost less and could be built faster, Carlson said. It would also give students more living space and even private rooms, he said.

“;We need to do something to get the costs more in line to get it to feel a little less risky to lenders,”; he said.

Banks would be willing to lend the money if the university were to guarantee student occupancy, Carlson said. But at a meeting in July 2006, UH regents did not want to put the university at financial risk by backing a construction loan.

The clock is ticking on Bridgecreek. The company must complete the first phase of the student housing by January 2011 or it will lose its lease on the 36 acres of state land.

Gerald De Mello, UH-Hilo director of university relations, said the university supports Bridgecreek's efforts to redesign the project and to get financing.

“;We would like to get student housing,”; De Mello said. The university's enrollment continues to grow, especially with the new Pharmacy School, and there's a need for new student housing, De Mello said.

The U.S.-China Center project was originally proposed in the late 1990s and student housing on the site has been talked about since the 1980s, De Mello said.

But the first developer for the China Center, Taiwan-based GEO International Explorer, was unable to complete the deal.

               

     

 

 

CORRECTION         » Bridgecreek Development International has until January 2011 to complete the first phase of a student housing complex at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. A story on Page A7 in Friday's morning edition incorrectly said the company had until November 2010.