Centennial Park groundbreaking was 20 years in the making

Centennial Park, a public- private partnership between the city and the Rotary Club of Honolulu to build a long-awaited park in Waikiki, finally broke ground Monday.

The coming green space was made possible by a 2016 partnership between the city and the Rotary Club of Honolulu to transform the lot into a park — which would pay homage to the Rotary Club and offer residents and visitors some res-pite from Waikiki’s density.

“‘Too long’ is really the story of this park. ‘Tenacity’ and ‘perseverance’ are also words I associate with this park,” said Rotary’s Centennial Park Committee Chairman Rob Hale, who is a past club president.

The city’s promise to put a park on the lot goes back 16 years. But the community push to secure that pledge goes back to 1998, when the late Bill Sweatt first championed turning the derelict lot behind his Waikiki condominium into a place where his grandchildren could play.

Sweatt, a community activist, is credited with stopping the construction of a high-rise senior living facility, and he led a petition drive that got 700 signatures to get a park built. He and other community park advocates celebrated in 2003 when the city purchased the 33,000-square-foot property for $2.57 million and promised to turn it into the long-awaited park.

But progress stalled when city officials decided to turn the proposed park into a “temporary” staging area and construction base yard for improvement projects throughout Waikiki. At the time of Sweatt’s death in 2011, sewer pipes still occupied the ground where he had hoped to see playground equipment and park benches.

Sweatt didn’t live to see the park come to fruition, but Waikiki Neighborhood Board Chairman Bob Finley said the community activist would have been pleased to see his dream move forward.

“Bill Sweatt worked tirelessly to bring a park to this community,” Finley said. “The neighborhood with all the surrounding high-rises has been waiting a long time for a green space of their own. The closest one that we’ve got is all the way over at the Ritz-Carlton, and it’s part of the hotel.”

Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said Rotary’s gift to the city, which is valued at $1.5 million, makes it possible for the first phase of the park to be completed next summer.

“This is an example of a public-private partnership that is making a difference that we couldn’t do otherwise,” Caldwell said.

Together the city, the Rotary and other volunteers will transform the lot into a gated green with a hula mound, walkways and markers that tell the story of Waikiki and the Rotary, said Linda Coble, past Rotary club president and park committee member.

Coble said the service organization hopes to have the park ready for the 2020 Rotary International Convention, which will be held June 6-10 in Honolulu.

“We expect 26,000 to 30,000 attendees from 200 to 300 countries. We want to share the aloha spirit with them and the history of Waikiki,” Coble said. “But I’m most excited because I know that we can make a change in one spot in Waikiki that will last forever.”

While the club is well on its way to making the park a reality, more funds and volunteers are needed, said Mitch D’Olier, past Rotary president and park committee member. The $600,000 that the Rotary has raised is enough to file with the State Historic Preservation Division next month and over the next several months begin to grade the site and plant trees and grass, D’Olier said.

There have been substantial in-kind donations, too, but another $180,000 in cash and more volunteers are needed to complete the park, he said. For more information go online to centennialparkwaikiki.org.

ON THE MOVE

Bank of Hawaii has announced the following appointments:

>> Thomas Butler has joined the bank as the new executive vice president and director of data and analytics in the Finance Division. He previously worked as a consumer process redesign executive for US Bank in Columbus, Ohio. Butler also served as a senior vice president at Bank of America in North Carolina for 12 years, overseeing risk operations, deposit contact centers and consumer products.

>> Jeff Dunn is the new senior vice president and director of integrated marketing as well as customer experience insights in the Marketing Division. Dunn has extensive online marketing background in the tourism and retail industries, including having served as a senior director of integrated marketing and digital commerce for the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie.