Editorial: Fast-tracking new stadium

Barring the unexpected at the eleventh hour — which has happened before — the long-awaited demolition of Aloha Stadium and construction of a modern replacement will be underway soon. That would be a good thing indeed, an optimism fueled this week as three of Hawaii’s top leaders pushed the new stadium with eagerness — but without the convoluted public- private partnership (P3) scheme that included a grandiose entertainment district.

Build the stadium first, then the rest will follow — that’s the new cohesive message.

“Costs will exponentially increase the longer we wait,” House Speaker Scott Saiki said in pressing Gov. Josh Green’s administration to move on a new stadium with $350 million already allocated for the project. “It is important to get going” on the facility, agreed Senate President Ron Kouchi, when the duo appeared Wednesday on the Star-Advertiser “Spotlight Hawaii” webcast.

Just two days earlier, Green himself acknowledged the need to act now, saying that “time, in this case, is definitely money.”

Expect details, then, from the administration in the next month or so on a two-phase Aloha Stadium replacement plan:

>> Phase One, on a request for proposals to tear down the Halawa “Rust Palace” and build a new stadium. Taxpayers will be holding Green to his expectation that this will cost less than $500 million — and he certainly needs to include airtight provisos for operating and managing the stadium. As shown by Aloha Stadium’s chronic deferred-maintenance problems, upkeep of the new facility will be a major consideration once it’s built.

>> Phase Two will follow with housing and an entertainment district — with “entertainment” likely on a less-grand scale than originally pitched by the New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District (NASED).

In its March 1 community newsletter, NASED still calls this “an exciting project” overall, but telegraphed a reprioritized moderation, noting that a phased plan to be released in the coming weeks will cover demolition of the stadium, construction of a new one, and “the creation of housing within the surrounding district.”

For taxpayers, more affordable housing remains an imperative — given the rare opportunity to realize a bevy of much-needed homes on the 98-acre, state-owned Halawa property.

One intriguing aspect that will come increasingly into play as housing and redevelopment plans unfold: the role of the military.

Green is right in stressing the importance of cooperation from, and coordination with, the military for housing and infrastructure due to the nearby Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

The military needs to be “a much better partner on the infrastructure needs of our state,” the governor said. That’s highly relevant at Halawa, of course, but also in so many other areas that impact Hawaii’s quality of life.