Stadium’s preventive maintenance costs climb

As if they were intent upon not revealing their age spots, portions of Aloha Stadium are concealed behind white, tent-like shrouds these days.

Underneath, the withering facility is being sandblasted and patched, preparation for its 43rd football season with its latest facelift of sorts.

Five of the sections that make up nearly half of the orange seating area on the makai sideline are undergoing work to repair or mitigate corrosion. Steel from steps and seating areas is being replaced or patched, sandblasted and repainted, officials said.

It is one of the most visible areas of the latest effort, this one with a $6.7 million price tag, to keep the state’s largest entertainment facility functioning for the immediate future.

Keep in mind, however, these are not enhancements or upgrades to the 50,000-seat stadium. No bells and no whistles. The work has been classified as necessary “priority health and safety” repairs just to keep the place operating, the doors open and the attorney general from fielding claims.

“These are preventative so we don’t have a serious situation,” said Charles Vitale, stadium engineer.

Last month the “Aloha Stadium Conceptual Redevelopment Report” claimed the stadium, “has served its useful life and is now a liability to fan experiences, a potential danger to public health and safety and a financial burden for maintenance and operations.”

Stadium manager Scott Chan has assured that, “We know it is an aging facility. It is (soon-to-be-43 years old). It needs a lot of tender loving care … but by no means is it unsafe.” Recurring structural inspections of the stadium have been recommended at two-year intervals, the industry standard for steel bridges and exterior structures, a consultant’s report says.

Opened at a cost of $37 million in 1975, the tab for basic repairs long ago eclipsed the sticker price and will mount until its future is decided and acted upon.

And that could be a while.

If — and it is a huge “if” — everything goes according to the script that has been laid out, it will be another five to seven years before a new stadium rises in its place, officials acknowledge.

And, as you prepare to write checks for rail overruns, try to recall the last time a major project met deadlines, much less budgets.

In the realm of sports you might have to go back to 1984, when what is now known as Les Murakami Stadium opened on time. But just barely. Hours before the first pitch against USC, workmen could be heard still bolting down seats.

But Murakami Stadium seats only 4,312 and wasn’t nearly as big or as ambitious an undertaking as what has been proposed for Halawa, where a new stadium is to join the rail station as anchors for a major redevelopment project.

It is, as state Sen. Glenn Wakai (D, Kalihi, Salt Lake), whose district the facility sits in, told the Stadium Authority on Thursday, an opportunity to “reinvent” not only the 98-acre parcel that the stadium currently sits on but also establish a template for future public-private partnerships.

House Bill 627, which awaits Gov. David Ige’s signature, establishes with the state Dept. of Business, Economic Development and Tourism a public-private partnership coordinator to manage so-called P-3 efforts such as what is envisioned for the Aloha Stadium footprint.

When $10 million in funding from a separate bill is signed off on by Ige and released, the Stadium Authority will begin the procurement process to award contracts for an environmental impact study and site planning. By 2019, it hopes to begin soliciting proposals from potential developers.

In the meantime, aging Aloha Stadium is getting another facelift and trying hard not to look its age.