University of Hawaii athletics is poised to receive $11.1 million in capital improvement project funding for repair and renovation of its aging lower campus facilities, according to the state budget.
The lump sum line item was appropriated by the Legislature and still requires approval by Gov. David Ige.
Athletic director David Matlin said the funds, when released, would go for items atop the department’s priority list, likely including renovations and improvements for the Stan Sheriff Center and Les Murakami Stadium.
UH spokesman Dan Meisenzahl said a determination of the projects will be made and presented to the Board of Regents for approval. Meisenzahl said, “In the end, it is about what the university decides the greatest needs are.”
Meisenzahl said, “We always appreciate the Legislature’s support, not only for athletics but for all of our projects, everything from capital improvements to the support they’ve shown for the Hawaii Promise program. The mission for us now, once the funds are released, is to see that every dollar is spent effectively and efficiently.”
Matlin said the money “is welcome news and would be meaningful for our student-athletes, who use these facilities.”
The money is in addition to $16.3 million in what a UH spokesman termed, “shovel-ready projects” due to begin this summer and fall funded by appropriations in the 2016 and 2017 fiscal years.
They include:
>> General repairs to practice gyms 1 and 2, $10.3 million. Gym 1 will be over the summer, to be followed by Gym 2, starting in the fall.
>> Les Murakami home team locker room renovations, $1.6 million.
>> Three concrete video platforms for the Cooke Field football practice facility, $260,000.
>> Replacement of what has been termed “an archaic water system” at the Duke Kahanamoku Swimming Complex, where filtration, chemical and water systems and heating are to be replaced.
