Ferd Lewis: Officials seem to agree on new Aloha Stadium site

After more than a decade of argument and speculation about where to locate a successor to a rapidly decaying Aloha Stadium, there is apparently steadfast agreement that it will be built adjacent to the current facility in Halawa.

A draft of a site assessment due to be presented to the Aloha Stadium Authority reportedly reaffirms the 98-acre Halawa parcel as the preferred location when funding is approved and is a significant step toward securing the future of the state’s largest entertainment venue.

“They decided that Halawa was the best site,” said Rep. Sylvia Luke (D, Makiki-Punchbowl-Nuuanu), chair of the powerful House Finance Committee.

“It was good for the state to at least look at the different options because people had talked about other options and other areas,” Luke said after the committee unanimously passed a funding measure, House Bill 1497 Friday.

Senate Bill 1530 is scheduled to be voted upon by the Senate’s Ways and Means Committee Monday.

The two nearly identical bills progressing through the Legislature would appropriate $350 million in general funds and bonds for the construction of a replacement for the 45-year-old facility with development to be overseen by the Hawaii Community Development Authority. Included are $150 million in revenue bonds, which would be repaid by proceeds from a planned public-private partnership designed to leverage transit-oriented development, officials and legislators say.

Before ground was broken on the current Aloha Stadium in 1971, debate raged about a site, including West Oahu, Manoa, Sand Island, Kapiolani Park and the Ala Wai Golf Course among the potential locations before settling on Halawa.

The current report is said to have retraced some of the same ground before affirming a recommendation made by the Aloha Stadium Authority in 2017 in which the panel, citing reports of independent consultants, recommended construction of a new, 30,000- to 35,000-seat facility on the Aloha Stadium site.

A separate study, commissioned by UH, recommended building a multi-purpose stadium of approximately the same size but was not site specific. However, infrastructure improvements necessary to put a stadium within in the current 320-acre Manoa campus footprint would have been cost-prohibitive, a UH official said at the time.

In addition, they said, it would have likely faced a protracted battle from the neighborhood, which gets backed up when events even come close to filling the 10,300-seat Stan Sheriff Center. That would have been something the project could ill-afford if UH hopes to have a new home before the rusting edifice is rendered largely unusable.

UH offered testimony supporting HB 1497 and the earmarking of Halawa, noting, “As the primary user and customer of the stadium, the university supports this bill as a means to resolve the stadium’s condition.”

Meanwhile, building on the site of the Ala Wai Golf Course site would have meant displacing golfers who expressed vehement opposition in public hearings.

The city is currently in the process of working out a proposed 20-year lease for a public-private partnership with Topgolf Hawaii, which would invest $50 million in renovating the course’s traditional driving range with a high-tech version and other golf-related activities.

Given the varying reports and variety of possible sites, “I think we needed to do the site survey to make sure that we know — and are comfortable with — what the consultants had recommended,” Luke said.

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