The numbers make the argument compelling. The state has more employees working downtown than it has space in state buildings to house them.
The state does lease private space. But it really wants its own space, because as you and I both know, state government is not going to start shrinking.
Specifically, the state is eyeing Alii Place on Alakea and Richards streets, across from the state Capitol, the State Office Tower and a half-block from the Kamamalu Building, which Gov. David Ige says will actually be reopened in our lifetime. It was shuttered in the closing days of the Cayetano administration and stayed closed for the eight years of Lingle and four years of Abercrombie.
If it does open during the Ige administration, it will give the state an extra 90,000 square feet of space.
Alii Place would help much more: It is a 300,000- square-foot building.
Last year, the Legislature put up $500,000 to have the building appraised and also figure out the replacement costs compared to building a new building.
Alii Place sits on city land, so Ige and Mayor Kirk Caldwell have even talked about some sort of a land swap, so the state could snag the fee interest in Alii Place.
The Ige administration turned the appraisal over to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, giving it $450,000 of the half-million for the appraisal. The department picked James E. Hallstrom to determine fair market value, prepare a property condition report and estimate the replacement cost of the building.
The appraisal is completed. And how much will the deal cost? Owners of the building have, according to media reports, offered to sell it to the state for $90 million, but DLNR refuses to say what the appraisal says.
Pointing to a state law, DLNR clammed up.
“After the private property has been acquired or the state abandons the acquisition, these appraisal reports shall be available for inspection and copying by the public,” the law says.
There is nothing in the law that says the state can’t actually tell the public up front, just that it doesn’t have to.
Remember, this is the same department that just this week won the “Lava Tube Award,” presented to Suzanne Case, DLNR chairwoman, by the Big Island Press Club for blocking media access, refusing to answer media questions and denying the media’s ability to question members of the DLNR staff.
The feisty Big Island Press Club noted that a memo from DLNR says, “DLNR staff and management are instructed not to respond to direct new media calls. Contacting staff directly will likely delay a response to your request.”
With an attitude like that, it is easy to see why Case’s outfit would not see a way to let the public know the value of Alii Place, which would be bought with your tax money.
Sources at the Legislature, which has already received a copy of the appraisal, say unofficially that the appraisal came in much lower than the stated $90 million value. One source said it was $40 million and another said it was so low that it is likely that the state would be unable to get the property owners to accept the appraised price.
What is known is that today, the state’s location of new downtown office space can be found at Square One.
Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.
