The phrase “live and learn” should take on a new meaning for many students at the University of Hawaii at Manoa two years from now.
A ceremonial groundbreaking took place Thursday on a new extension of the school’s campus where a $70 million complex is to be developed with dorms and education space for students pursuing entrepreneurship.
The project, called Residences for Innovative Student Entrepreneurs, or RISE, is set to rise in a six-story building to be integrated with the adjacent historic Charles Atherton House following a renovation, with the complex on the corner of University Avenue and Metcalf Street opening in 2023.
“This is a great day,” UH President David Lassner said at the event, describing how the project was possible only because it is being developed under a public-private partnership with the donor-supported nonprofit University of Hawaii Foundation and other entities.
RISE will include 374 beds for students along with about 7,300 square feet of classroom, lab, meeting and multipurpose coworking space to help students start future businesses.
Susan Yamada, board member and former executive director of UH’s Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship, said the 21-year-old PACE program will receive top-notch learning space six times bigger than what it has now.
“With RISE our students will benefit from having a state-of-the art facility whose scale and programs are found in only a handful of universities in the world,” she said. “We have a chance to be a leader.”
Several participants in the ceremony, which included some members of the Honolulu City Council and state Legislature, said RISE will help diversify the local economy by producing new businesses that create jobs.
The RISE site had long been home to a pair of three-story residence halls for UH students — the Charles Atherton House and Mary Atherton Richards House — owned by the YMCA of Honolulu.
As part of an effort to shore up its finances, the YMCA listed the site for sale in 2014 and quickly drew interest from UH.
“The Y put the property up for sale, and the first thing we said at UH is, ‘This needs to become part of the UH ecosystem,’” Lassner said. “We cannot let this just turn into a drive-in or whatever might have maximized economic opportunity.”
However, Lassner said UH’s initial plan for the site was an underwhelming minimum-expense renovation to house students affordably. Later, Yamada with PACE got involved, and the plan for RISE took shape.
The UH Foundation bought the 1-acre site in 2017 for $8 million. In 2021 the City Council approved an extension of UH’s campus to cover the site, and the Mary Atherton Richards House was demolished.
Under the public-private partnership, UH Foundation will be the owner of the RISE project and help fund operations.
Construction is being financed by tax-free bonds sold by the Wisconsin-based Public Finance Authority to investors who are to be paid back mainly from RISE dorm rental income.
Texas-based Hunt Development Group is building the project for a fee. Another Texas-based company, B.HOM Student Living, will manage RISE.
“This project really took a lot of collaboration,” said Steve Colon, Hunt’s Hawaii division president.
UH Foundation also aims to raise $3 million to pay for RISE furniture, fixtures and equipment in addition to providing support for programs and scholarships over 10 years.
Toward that goal a pair of $250,000 contributions have been pledged by the First Hawaiian Bank Foundation and the Dods Foundation.
First Hawaiian CEO Bob Harrison said the bank is proud to support RISE and develop the next generation of talented global business leaders.
The Dods Foundation donation is being made on behalf of Walter A. Dods Jr., a UH graduate and former First Hawaiian CEO. A RISE classroom is slated to be named after him.
“I firmly believe that education is the great equalizer for many in our community,” Dods said in a statement. “We desperately need critical thinkers and entrepreneurs in a state so reliant on small and medium sized businesses, and I believe RISE will be a breakthrough investment in our future.”
