Construction of a long-awaited building to house the College of Pharmacy at the University of Hawaii at Hilo could begin this summer following the selection this week of a general contractor.
The project appeared to be in jeopardy earlier this year because construction bids had come in over the allotted $30 million for the work, and the funding is set to lapse June 30. University officials at the time said that UH would explore its options within procurement laws to either dedicate more money to the project or reduce the scope of the work.
A UH spokesman said the university did both: UH Hilo reworked its budget to come up with additional funds, and the project was scaled back to include fewer research laboratories.
UH on Monday awarded a $31.3 million contract to Isemoto Contracting Co. The Hilo-based company was among five firms that initially bid on the work; its original bid was just over $32.6 million.
UH spokesman Dan Meisenzahl said that “barring any unforeseen hurdles, construction of the pharmacy college could start in June, and is expected to take 20 months.”
The school, which was launched in 2007 and awarded its first degrees in 2011, currently operates out of five sites, including temporary trailers and off-campus buildings. The new facility is still expected to be 45,000 square feet and include classrooms, teaching and research laboratories, and offices.
Getting the funds for the college, which was renamed the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy in 2013, proved controversial at the Legislature. During the 2013 legislative session, lawmakers in the House withheld funding for the building, telling UH to instead focus resources on its growing repair and maintenance backlog. Lawmakers denied the request even though UH warned that the college’s accreditation was at risk because it lacked proper facilities.
The Board of Regents later that year imposed a moratorium on new construction projects but exempted the pharmacy school and several other projects in the pipeline at the time. In 2014 lawmakers approved a combination of state-backed bonds and revenue bonds, which are being repaid using tuition revenue from the pharmacy program.
“This is a project that has been talked about for years and was something my dad was a big champion for,” said state Sen. Kai Kahele (D, Hilo), who was appointed in February to replace his father, Gil Kahele, who died in January. “I’m hoping that a year from now we can welcome a new freshman class with this new facility.”
