Stadium Authority has some big decisions ahead

When parting the cobwebs of nearly 45 years of Aloha Stadium history and lore, you never know what you might find.

Just like the Aloha Stadium Authority, which has been given plenty to consider by the Aloha Stadium Comprehensive Site Summary released Thursday.

For one thing, the stadium might have less land in Halawa than the 104 acres claimed.

For another, the City and County of Honolulu apparently still has a deed restriction on a good chunk of it.

"We have not been provided with a comprehensive survey of the stadium site," the report by Foley & Lardner, a New York law firm, states, "so the exact acreage is unclear, however, the 104-acre figure (that has long been in use) appears to be in error." 

The study said it could substantiate 98.609 acres, 41.417 acres of which is apparently still bound by city deed restriction. 

The Authority, for some time, has painstakingly been working with the U.S. Department of the Interior to negotiate away the federal deed restriction, and an end might be in sight with plans to swap some state land on Maui, members were told.

But the Foley & Lardner report also revealed a city deed restriction dating from Nov. 30, 1970 — about seven months before ground was broken on the 50,000-seat facility that opened in 1975. 

Authority member Kenneth Marcus, a prominent real estate attorney, told fellow members at Thursday’s meeting, "unbeknownst to us before, there is a whole second level of restrictions with the city which must be released, in my view, before going forward."

The Foley & Lardner report notes, "in the event of a breach of this covenant all interest in the property and any improvements would revert to the city."

The late Mayor Frank Fasi made veiled references to the city’s position when running for office in the 1990s, suggesting a forced sale of Aloha Stadium, which he famously described to reporter Gordon Pang as "the world’s largest, rusting steel erector set ever built in the history of mankind," to underwrite other projects.

These days, however, Marcus told the Authority, "There is, in my view, no reason why the city, needing critical cooperation from us, shouldn’t be giving us the same kind of critical cooperation we need to assure the future of the stadium."

City Council Chairman Ernie Martin suggests another level of city/state cooperation worth considering. "I believe UH West Oahu has a significant amount of land in West Oahu that it is having difficulty with regarding potential development partners. I know there was some discussion in the most recent state Legislature to ‘recapture’ these lands from UH West Oahu for other projects. (It is the) perfect site for a new stadium. Imagine selling the development rights at the Aloha Stadium to a multi-billion-dollar developer like Howard Hughes Corp. in exchange for construction of a new stadium in West Oahu —  I think it’s doable."

After this many years, Aloha Stadium is probably good for a few more surprises.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.