COURTESY KUPU
A groundbreaking was held Thursday near Kewalo Harbor for a job training and community center. Attendees included Kamehameha Schools board Chairman Micah Kane, left, MacNaughton Group CEO Ian MacNaughton, Kupu board Chairman John Neff, HCDA Chairman John Whalen, ALTRES President and CEO Barron Guss, Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation Vice President of Real Estate Investments and Community Affairs Corbette Kalama, Kupu CEO and co-founder John Leong, Mayor Kirk Caldwell, first lady Dawn Amano-Ige, Kupu capital campaign Chairman Rich Wacker, Howard Hughes Corp. Senior Vice President of Development Race Randle, Kupu co-founder Julianna Rapu-Leong and state Rep. Ty Cullen.
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By the end of this year or so, a pavilion built to dry commercial fishing boat nets in Honolulu should be transformed into a job training and community center by a nonprofit helping at-risk teens and young adults.
The nonprofit, Kupu, held a ceremonial groundbreaking for the $6 million project Thursday at the site fronting Kewalo Harbor and an adjacent waterfront park.
Planned improvements to the state-owned building, which Kupu is leasing for
$1 a year, include adding
exterior walls, a lounge, classroom space, meeting rooms and a commercial kitchen. Bathrooms in the building also will be renovated, and photovoltaic
panels will be installed on the roof. Outside, a native plant garden, imu, picnic
tables and event space are planned.
“We are not just restoring a building, we are restoring lives and the potential of
Hawaii with our Green Jobs Training and Community Center,” Kupu CEO John Leong said in a statement.
Kupu was awarded a lease last year for the 8,400-square-
foot building by the Hawaii Community Development Authority, a state agency that built the pavilion in 1989-90. The nonprofit also obtained $2 million for
renovation work from the Legislature. The building’s use for net drying was short-lived because of contractions to Hawaii’s fishing fleet and an industry shift to
nylon nets.