$5 million gift to PBS will go toward new digs

By Star-Advertiser staff

Aug. 31, 2011

COURTESY IMAGE
courtesy image An artist's rendering of the new facility PBS Hawaii will move into on Sand Island Access Road near Nimitz Highway. The former KFVE studio there will be renovated.

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The Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation is giving $5 million to PBS Hawaii for a new television studio and offices, the public broadcasting station announced Tuesday.

PBS Hawaii is moving to the old KFVE studios on Nimitz Highway and has set a goal of raising $30 million to renovate the one-story building and relocate to the new facility by 2014.

The donation by the Ching Foundation moves PBS Hawaii past the halfway mark of its fundraising effort, with $17 million raised so far.

PBS Hawaii’s future home will be called the Clarence T.C. Ching Campus.

The public television station is moving from its current location on Dole Street and University Avenue because the landowner, the University of Hawaii at Manoa, needs the site to expand its academic programs.

PBS Hawaii says the organization is evolving from educational statewide broadcaster to a multimedia educational organization.

"The Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation wants to see public television survive and thrive for the sake of future generations of islanders," foundation trustee Kenneth Okamoto said.