UH officials remain eager for a role with Obama library

Despite word that Chi­cago was chosen by President Barack Obama to host his presidential library, University of Hawaii officials said Friday they remain confident — and even excited — about their chances of landing some component of the overall center.

"We are eagerly looking forward to the formal announcement to see what Hawaii’s role will be," university spokes­man Dan Meisenzahl said.

News of the University of Chicago’s selection as host leaked Thursday, leaving the three other competing institutions — UH, New York’s Columbia University and the University of Illinois at Chicago — seemingly out in the cold.

But media reports have hinted that Obama will spread the library project around when he makes his formal announcement in mid-May.

In fact, sources told the Chicago Tribune on Friday that Columbia would end up with the offices of the Barack Obama Presidential Center and Hawaii would land "a project that represents the state’s ties with the president."

There is precedence for splitting up the components of a presidential library. For example, former President Bill Clinton’s library is in his home state of Arkansas, but his foundation’s offices are in New York.

Meisenzahl said Hawaii officials are "seriously excited" about the possibilities that lie ahead.

Gov. David Ige’s office issued a statement Friday that concluded, "We look forward to hearing from the foundation and hope to work with its team in the near future."

In December Hawaii submitted a proposal that included an interactive museum and visitor center, plus a convening institute where world leaders could discuss global problems, a leadership academy focusing on issues related to schoolchildren, and a UH center for community organizing designed to appeal to Obama, a former community organizer in Chicago.

Eight acres of Hawaii Community Development Authority land was set aside near the ocean in Kaka­ako.

Meisenzahl said officials always understood that Hawaii likely wouldn’t win the entire presidential center. But to earn a part of it, he said, they were required to submit a proposal for the entire complex.

The state spent more than $500,000 pursuing the library. That includes $390,000 in state Legislature-approved funding and about $50,000 in university funds, plus the cost of a faculty member who spent 75 percent of his time on the project, a graduate assistant and a summer’s worth of work from two other faculty members, the university reported.

To meet the standards of the bidding proc­ess, officials commissioned engineering studies, architectural designs, an economic impact report, a profit and loss analysis, coastal risk mitigation report, museum study and other studies.

The reality is that UH probably worked on a shoestring budget compared with what private institutions University of Chicago and Columbia allocated to the effort, Meisenzahl said.

"Every ounce of energy and every dime that was spent will be well worth it — and will come back to us tenfold," he said.

Hawaii officials have estimated that the library, if built here in its entirety, would generate between $300 million and $600 million in new economic activity, depending on scale, and create up to 2,000 new jobs in the development phase alone.

Consultants also figured the complex would generate between $25 million and $40 million in state and city tax revenue and more than $2 billion in new economic activity in its first decade, they said.

With 8 million tourists annually visiting the islands already, they said, the center would become one of Hono­­lulu’s top five cultural attractions.