Sale of Advertiser property puts ‘Hawaii Five-0’ in flux

Tropical beauty may be the face of “Hawaii Five-0,” but the uncredited star of the series is an aging building on Kapiolani Boulevard that was just bought by a developer who plans to evict the show as early as next spring.

Although CBS won’t say publicly how serious a blow this is to production, the sale of The Honolulu Advertiser building, which “Five-0” has used for sets and offices since it began shooting in 2010, underscores a larger problem for television production in Hawaii: There are few buildings that can be converted for use as a soundstage.

The state Film Office is helping “Five-0” in its search for a new home, but has not found anything yet, said state film commissioner Donne Dawson.

“This has been known for a long time, since the building was for sale,” she said. “We’ve been looking for quite a long time.”

When a large space becomes available it’s typically a warehouse in transition. But most of those structures are less than ideal for filming. They lack high, wide ceilings and thick walls that limit outside noises. Or parking is tight.

And some, like the Advertiser building, are on the market for a more profitable use.
Hawaii has only one true soundstage — the state-owned facility at Diamond Head. It’s leased to Sony Pictures Television, which is shooting a TV show for ABC called “Last Resort.” So any production that needs a studio has to improvise.

When the ABC series “Lost” first arrived in 2004, it had to use the old Xerox building on Nimitz Highway. That same year, NBC’s short-lived cop drama “Hawaii” used a huge warehouse in Mapunapuna that was 30,000 square feet but came with only 20 parking stalls.

Honolulu film commissioner Walea Constantinau, who helped “Five-0” find the Advertiser building about two weeks before shooting began in July 2010, has told producers not to hesitate.

“I told them if they have found a space now to take it because it is hard to find space,” she said. “The types of buildings that are needed are not the kind of buildings we usually have, so it is a challenge to find them.”

“Five-0” has invested heavily in the Advertiser building, making roof repairs and improvements to the air conditioning, lighting, electrical and plumbing systems.

The show uses every square inch of the property, including a nearly 20-foot-tall warehouse once used to store newsprint and the former press room — 59,956 square feet of space. The three-story, 78,439-square-foot building houses production offices and several spaces regularly used for temporary sets.
“It’s a unique space,” Dawson said. “You are not going to be able to duplicate that.”

DEVELOPER Marshall Hung closed a deal last month for the 3.7-acre property and plans to build two 400-foot-tall high-rise condominiums. Unless there is a change in the current lease, “Five-0” will have to leave the building at the conclusion of filming of the show’s third season, which should be sometime in April.

“It’s going to have to be enough time,” Dawson said. “The show is very important to us. The show is very important to the state.”

It would seem unfathomable for “Five-0” to leave Hawaii, although other TV shows — “CSI: Miami” and “Burn Notice” — have used Los Angeles as a stand-in for Florida.

Peter Lenkov, the executive producer who created the rebooted “Five-0,” has often said the beauty of Hawaii is one of the stars of the show. He would not comment on what might happen once the lease expires at the Advertiser building.

“It would be a complete undoing of the fabric that this particular show has with Hawaii,” Constantinau said. “Nobody wants that.”

AND that’s a wrap. …

———
Mike Gordon is the Star-Advertiser’s film and television writer. Read his Outtakes Online blog at honolulupulse.com. Reach him at 529-4803 or email mgordon@staradvertiser.com.