Measure that could move City Hall to Kapolei advances

Honolulu Hale and City Hall.

Oahu residents have used both names interchangeably for more than eight decades.

But a measure now moving through the City Council would require the administration to study the feasibility of moving the City and County of Honolulu’s seat of government — the familiar California-Spanish building on King and Punchbowl streets — to spacious new digs in Kapolei.

The Council Budget Committee advanced Resolution 14-107 unanimously on Wednesday. It is expected to be up for a final vote on July 9.

Honolulu City Council Chairman Ernie Martin, who introduced the measure, gave several reasons for researching a move.

A recent renovation and asbestos removal project of the third-floor Council chambers made it clear that "we’re very limited in what we can do" to improve a building that opened for business in 1929, Martin told committee members. The building was placed on the Hawaii Register of Historic Places in 1975 and the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

A new building would allow the Council to have adequate space for meetings and eliminate the need for city agencies to continue to rent office space in privately owned buildings across the island, he said.

"Perhaps the time has come for us to look at another facility," Martin said. "And we own a significant amount of acreage next to Kapolei Hale, totally not being utilized."

Additionally, city officials could finally give a permanent and fitting home to the Royal Hawaiian Band, the only full-time municipal band in the United States that was first established by King Kamehameha III in 1836.

"They perform every Friday at Iolani Palace," Martin said. "Why not perform right here at Honolulu Hale? It’s such a beautiful place and the acoustics are so excellent."

Council Budget Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi said more space would allow Council members to be closer to their staff, which currently are in offices scattered through the building.

"Nine of us share one small waiting room in the front because there’s just no room," she said. "This building is a beautiful building … but it’s really lacking in this modern day."

Oahu resident Richard Elstner, the only person to testify on the measure, called a possible move a bad idea.

"You have this beautiful, architecturally historic building here right in the middle of downtown Hono­lulu, where everything is," Elstner said.

Mayor Kirk Caldwell and his administration, which has not weighed in on the issue, would have until Dec. 31 to complete its study.