State employees aren’t typically known for working in a "prestigious corporate environment." Hawaii lawmakers, however, are poised to consider buying just that — a first-class office tower for state use.

The price could be close to $90 million. And that doesn’t include the land under the building.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee is scheduled Monday to discuss a proposed draft of a bill that would instruct the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to engage in buying Alii Place, a 25-story building Ewa of the state Capitol on the edge of downtown Honolulu.

Alii Place is promoted as a "prestigious corporate environment" and features a marble-clad lobby, water fountain and a pinkish exterior framing reflective blue-green glass windows.

Mike Hamasu, research and consulting director for commercial real estate firm Colliers International, questioned the sensibility of such a deal that would make the state a landlord to many commercial tenants in the building.

"It sounds like something out of left field,"he said.

Hamasu said a key question is how long it would take for the state to benefit economically by using space in the building for state workers instead of paying rent elsewhere, though income and expenses from operating the building is another major factor.

To be sure, owning is usually less expensive than renting when it comes to real estate over the long term. There’s also nothing unusual about the state acquiring buildings for its growing legion of workers. But introducing such an initiative relatively late in the legislative session is generally frowned upon by government transparency advocates.

The proposed draft of House Bill 1366 is scheduled to be heard by the committee at 1:30 p.m.

It’s unclear who wrote the proposed draft. Sen. Jill Tokuda, Ways and Means chairwoman, could not be reached for comment Friday.

Earlier versions of the bill did not involve Alii Place.

The original version called for appropriating an unspecified amount of money to explore buying or building office space to ease a "pressing need"of state agencies, which are outgrowing existing space.

Only the state Department of Accounting and General Services submitted written testimony on the bill, and it was brief. Douglas Murdock, the agency’s director and state comptroller, said DAGSsupports the bill provided it doesn’t replace or adversely impact priorities in Gov. David Ige’s proposed state budget.

The House Finance Committee passed the bill and referred it to a pair of Senate committees.

On March 24, the Senate Committee on Government Operations passed an amended version of the bill, shifting the focus to exploring the leasehold sale of state office properties to private buyers interested in renovating the properties and leasing them back to the state, which would retain an option to buy the buildings back.

This amended version was sent to the Ways and Means Committee. Yet anew draft focused on buying Alii Place was proposed before Monday’s hearing, and is posted on the Legislature’s website.

According to the proposed draft, preliminary discussions have been held and indicate the building’s owner wants about $90 million for the tower excluding the land.

"The purchase price of Alii Place will be subject to an appraisal by the state and subsequent negotiations,"the proposed draft said.

The proposed draft also said roughly one-third of the space in the building is vacant — 114,663 square feet out of 337,370 square feet — and could house state agencies and offices that now rent space in private buildings.

The proposed draft appropriates $500,000 to DLNR to pursue the purchase, along with about $11 million in the next two fiscal years to repay debt incurred in a purchase.

An affiliate of San Francisco-based investment firm Bristol Group Inc. owns Alii Place. The company bought the property in 1998 for $72 million.

Alii Place was built in 1992 on the former site of a city parking garage. The city retained ownership of the land.

Buying office real estate is not unusual for the state. In 2000, the state bought the historic Hemmeter Building that included posh interiors and a swimming pool for $22.5 million. The building, which is mauka of Alii Place, was already largely leased for state offices and is connected to the state office tower.

In that deal, the administration of then-Gov. Ben Cayetano negotiated a purchase price with the owner and then asked that money be included in the state budget.

The state calculated that it would save $14.3 million over 20 years as an owner instead of a tenant in the Hemmeter Building.

In 2002, the state bought 80 percent of the historic King Kalakaua Building that also houses the downtown post office for $32.5 million to provide workspace for about 300 employees of the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

Owning office property, however, hasn’t always been something the state handles well.

One example is the Princess Victoria Kamamalu Building that is across from the Kalakaua Building and was bought by the state in 1968 for $2.5 million. The building was emptied in 2003 to make way for renovations, but the project got hung up over costs and is still not done.

The proposed draft of HB1366 said the state last year leased about 420,000 square feet of office space in downtown Honolulu, or the rough equivalent of a 42-story building. The draft also said that office rent costs the state about $10.2 million.