Three former Hawaii governors believe it’s time to say aloha — as in goodbye forever — to Aloha Stadium.

Neil Abercrombie, Ben Cayetano and John Waihee sent a letter expressing this view Tuesday to state leaders involved in a long-­running effort to redevelop the stadium’s 98-acre Halawa site with a new, roughly 35,000-seat stadium along with housing, hotels, retail and other uses envisioned as the New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District.

The three expect the effort to find private developers to carry out the NASED plan, which would largely be paid for by public funds offset by income from private use of leased land around a new stadium, will result in a “sinkhole” for taxpayers and a “walk-away disaster” for a private partner.

Instead, the trio suggest that the University of Hawaii build a stadium with 22,000 to 27,000 seats on its Manoa campus to free up the Hala­­wa site for more concentrated residential development focused on workforce housing in a market where the median price for single-family home resales recently hit $1 million.

“We believe developer dollars at Halawa should go where they are desperately needed — housing,” the letter states.

NASED leaders remain committed to the mixed-use vision in Halawa with a new stadium as its centerpiece.

Gov. David Ige, however, offered a more uncertain response after saying earlier this year that the old stadium’s life could be extended for many years to come.

“We are committed to building a permanent home for the University of Hawaii Rainbow Warrior football team,” Ige said in a statement. “We are exploring all options, and I appreciate the valuable input from our former governors.”

Abercrombie said it became clear to him two weeks ago that NASED needs to be shelved after the state Department of Accounting and General Serv­ices issued less than a full request for proposals to redevelop 73 acres around the stadium site and no request for proposals for a new stadium on about 25 acres.

The stadium proposal request is expected by the end of the year.

“This thing has never gotten off the ground,” Abercrombie said. “Events have gotten into the saddle and are riding the issue now.”

Cayetano said a new stadium, which DAGS expects to cost around $400 million, isn’t essential to a new community on the Halawa site.

“They can build a new community without a stadium,” he said. “It’s a waste of money — $400 million.”

Waihee noted that the original premise for building the 50,000-seat Aloha Stadium in 1975 was in part to attract a professional sports team.

“I drank the lemonade back then too,” he said. “It didn’t work out.”

Now, Waihee said replacing Aloha Stadium isn’t necessary to have developers create housing opportunities on the state-owned site next to a city rail station.

“In my opinion, it’s an artificial add-on because we have a bigger problem to solve,” he said. “The big problem is getting housing for people.”

Conceptual planning by DAGS suggests that around 3,300 homes, 650 hotel rooms, retail space, offices, a new stadium and at least 4,000 parking spaces could be part of NASED.

Work on NASED stretches back over a decade, and has included lifting federal and city restrictions on nonrecreational uses of the site, an environmental review, feasi- bility studies, conceptual renderings, funding appropriations and several laws enacted to carry out the plan.

The work also included an alternative site analysis, and UH Manoa ranked behind UH West Oahu, the Ala Wai Golf Course and Kapiolani Park. Halawa had the top score.

In March 2020, DAGS asked developers to submit their qualifications to take on NASED, and in December selected three finalists from which proposals were to be sought.

But growing coronavirus pandemic impacts put a kink in the plan with uncertainty over when stands could be filled again for UH football games, concerts and other events.

DAGS then divided the project in two pieces, with the three finalists to compete to build a new stadium separate from competitive bidding to redevelop the surrounding real estate.

Timing also changed for demolishing Aloha Stadium as the Stadium Authority, a state agency managing the badly rusted 46-year-old facility, cut back maintenance and declared seating areas unsafe. As part of this shift, DAGS abandoned a time­table to have a new stadium finished by 2023 before demolishing Aloha Stadium. Now, demolition would happen upfront.

UH responded by hurriedly retrofitting its Clarence T.C. Ching Athletic Complex practice facility this year to accommodate 9,000 fans. Another 6,000 seats could be added next year.

Abercrombie, Cayetano and Waihee said UH football will suffer if it takes years, as they suspect, to even start building a new stadium in Halawa, and that the university has its own procurement ability to more quickly develop a new stadium on campus for less than $350 million.

The governors also said a stadium in Manoa can be used for high school football games and other events once commonly hosted at Aloha Stadium.

UH spokesman Dan Meisenzahl said the university appreciates the support of the former governors but has no plans or funding to build a new stadium on campus.

“So UH hopes that the arrangements being made for NASED will make it financially feasible for the Rainbow Warriors to return to Halawa and play in a modern and well-maintained stadium,” he said in a statement.

Curt Otaguro, who heads DAGS as comptroller, said in a statement that the interest and ideas from the former governors is appreciated, though the agency is confident in the NASED plan that has received stakeholder input over the past decade.

Sen. Glenn Wakai, a key NASED supporter, said he shares some frustrations of the former governors over things like delays but isn’t ready to abandon NASED for government-subsidized housing.

“We have an immense opportunity to create a dynamic district on 98 acres of prime real estate,” he said in an email.

Under the NASED plan, a stadium developer might have to finance most of a new facility and receive an agreed-upon sum from the state to maintain it for 30 to 40 years while the Stadium Authority manages use.

Lawmakers this year cut back a previous $350 million appropriation for NASED to $170 million, though Wakai said there is an intention to add back $180 million next year.

For real estate surrounding Aloha Stadium, initial submittals from developers are due by Dec. 3, and finalists are expected to be selected by the end of January. Then detailed proposals are due by June, followed by a winning bid that DAGS expects to pick by September. Leasing and developing the site would be done in phases perhaps over two decades or longer.

DAGS has declined to say when it wants, or expects to have, a new stadium finished.