Hawaii Pacific University plans to consolidate into one downtown campus over the next three years and is seeking input from faculty, staff and students as it decides what to do with its bucolic Hawaii Loa campus.

“The status quo is not a logical solution — we need to bring the whole university together in one place,” HPU President Geoffrey Bannister said Friday. “We can’t operate half the university in one place and half in another. That is the bit that, in my view, is not open for debate.”

He spoke during a meeting held by the Master Planning Committee with faculty, staff and students at Aloha Tower Marketplace, the new anchor location for the school. A second session was held in the afternoon at the Hawaii Loa campus to fill people in on the plan to shift to a single urban campus.

“The question of how best to use the Hawaii Loa campus, what is its highest and best use within the configuration of the university, is an open-ended question,” Bannister told about 75 people at the morning session. “There are lots of possibilities. We encourage you to think about it.”

The private, nonprofit university has long operated two sites: its 135-acre campus in Windward Oahu at the foot of the Pali and a more scattered downtown location that includes leased space for classrooms and offices in several buildings. The decision to pare down to one campus is a result of a yearslong planning process, said Bannister, who is retiring this year at age 70.

HPU bought the buildings at Aloha Tower Marketplace in 2013 — except for the tower itself — and has a long-term lease with the state for the land. It has invested more than $40 million in the property, renovating and revitalizing it with Waterfront Lofts dormitories and classrooms. New retail tenants include a Barnes &Noble College bookstore and Nashville Waikiki, a country-western bar, but substantial space remains available.

The university’s 2014 master plan called for consolidation of academic programs into a single urban campus, and the university has already been expanding its academic offerings downtown. A biomedical lab originally intended for the Hawaii Loa campus is instead being installed at the Model Progress Building on Fort Street.

Bannister said the university would continue using the Hawaii Loa campus “pretty much how we are now” for at least three more years. The Windward campus has residence halls and athletic facilities and is home base for the College of Natural and Computational Sciences and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences. It also has ample parking, which does not come easy downtown.

Studies are underway to come up with financially viable uses for the Hawaii Loa property in the future, said Regina Ostergaard-Klem, a member of the planning committee and an associate professor of environmental science who is based at that campus.

There have been rumors that the Hawaii Loa property will be sold or leased, or perhaps a mix of both. Ideas mentioned by participants at the meeting included creating a tennis and swim center or an athletics facility that could serve the broader community.

Nathanael Howard, HPU’s student body president, has taken classes at both campuses and was initially taken aback by the decision to move operations away from the attractive Hawaii Loa campus.

“I definitely do like the feel over there, the whole relaxed feel” of being with “only students, and the scenery,” Howard, a business and management major, said after the meeting. “My first reaction about what happened: I was a little disappointed.”

“But learning more about it and also the life span of HPU — I’m going to bleed and die HPU because I’m going to be alumni — I see what it is that they’re doing and why it is that they’re doing it. People will not always agree, but if it’s for the betterment and fulfillment of HPU’s life span. I will be part of it. I will do my best in any way I can.”

Graduate student Sinead Angus also has enjoyed both campuses. She attended classes downtown as an undergraduate and is now getting her master’s in social work at the Hawaii Loa campus.

“I like that campus. It’s a very relaxing place because of the scenery. It’s very beautiful,” she said. “I do like both campuses.”

Angus, student senator for the College of Health and Society, said she didn’t have enough information yet to make a decision on the proposed move, but plans to learn more and encourage other students to share their opinions.

“I hope by going to these meetings I’ll develop a better understanding,” she said.

HPU has a total enrollment of 6,741 students, including 1,116 graduate students, and is recognized for its cultural diversity, with students hailing from all 50 states and nearly 80 countries.

Richard Rapoza, director of strategic communications for the university, said that it has been costly to run two campuses.

“The maintenance of Hawaii Loa is very expensive,” he said. “There are, even right now, substantial costs in repairing what needs to be repaired out there.” Rapoza added that there are “some economies of scale in consolidating downtown that we think will provide the best experience for our students, and it will increase our presence in the community.”

At the same time, providing student housing and science labs on high-priced downtown real estate is a challenge. The university is consulting with several student-housing developers.

The Hawaii Loa dorms accommodate nearly 200 students, while Aloha Tower Marketplace can handle 270, and occupancy is close to 100 percent, Rapoza said.

“The pivot to downtown is already underway,” said Mark Matheson, director of master planning for the university. “The Aloha Tower Marketplace is a big step in that process. … In general, my guidance has been to replicate the existing footprint of Hawaii Loa downtown.”