HPU finishes environmental analysis of Aloha Tower change

Hawaii Pacific University has completed a draft environmental assessment for its proposed conversion of Aloha Tower Marketplace into an extension of its downtown Hono­lulu campus sprinkled with some retail and restaurant use.

The university indicated that it intends to use about 130,000 square feet of the 165,000-square-foot complex at Hono­lulu Harbor for educational facilities that include classrooms, a library, a computer lab, a fitness center, a dining hall and 83 residences housing roughy 300 students and faculty.

About 35,000 square feet of the marketplace would remain for retail and restaurant use, including existing tenants Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant and Hooters, the assessment said. HPU notified 17 other tenants that they must vacate their spaces by March 17.

HPU indicated that only about 35,000 square feet, or 21 percent of the marketplace, is occupied by tenants. "This is equivalent to the retail space HPU is planning to retain as a part of the proposed project," HPU said in the assessment published Sunday by the state Office of Environmental Quality Control.

Construction is projected to start by the end of March and finish next year.