If it’s so that “you only have one chance to make a first impression,” Hawaii surely does not benefit from what visitors see at the state-owned Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor.
This has been a known issue for years, but efforts to correct the deficits — those that affect residents and tourists alike, as well as how overall deterioration has marred appearances of the “gateway to Waikiki” — have utterly failed. The hope is that the latest attempt, as outlined in a newly released “vision report,” will better anticipate potential problems and settle on a development partner that can deliver.
The harbor is now the site of the Hawaii and Waikiki yacht clubs and the Anuenue Canoe Club, and it accommodates 762 berths, including 129 live-aboard yachts. These tenants have longstanding complaints about the state’s lapses into deferral of maintenance.
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources is hoping for a public-private partnership — again — as a solution for the mounting expense of renovations and repairs. This will be a major investment, for both partners: According to the conceptual plan, the project cost will range between $251 million and $356 million.
It can be well worth it, with the potential of generating ongoing tax revenue that could help support its upkeep. Like many waterfront districts in U.S. cities, a boat harbor can be surrounded, and partially financed, by commercial retail development that, tied together with a promenade, can become an attraction for residents and visitors alike.
Discussions over the first redevelopment plan date back to 2011 and involved the Japan-based company Honey Bee USA Inc. Legislation was enacted to allow for such a partnership at a state harbor, and the Ala Wai project was seen as a possible model for other harbor rehabilitation projects.
Ultimately, this did not work out as planned, unfortunately. Honey Bee demolished a fuel dock and boat repair yard — amenities the boaters desperately wanted replaced — to make way for redevelopment of the 3-acre site.
Then, despite the department’s indulgences on Honey Bee’s delays as it struggled to gain financing, the whole plan fell through when the company went bankrupt in 2016, still owing the state a half-million dollars.
This is an outcome the state wants and needs to avoid this time. In November 2020 DLNR hired the University of Hawaii Design Center and the UH Department of Urban and Regional Planning to draw up the plan (see 808ne.ws/visionreport Opens in a new tab).
This is a good start to the process. The vision team came up with two options, both of which would include a maritime welcome center, market plaza, education and community center, watercraft park and surf community center, green space and areas for gatherings and events. The upper-end of the price range would add a parking garage to the park, canoe storage and landing area and other amenities.
There already has been some community outreach, another prudent move. It is important that the general idea of the attraction be well understood by the taxpayers who will help to underwrite it.
Initial proposals on the first go-around a decade ago included a Ferris wheel, like those built in other cities’ shoreline parks. In Hawaii, that idea does not reflect a sense of place, and elements that are better aligned with the islands’ culture and environment would be preferred.
Key to success, however, will be the proper configuration of the request for proposals, defining what’s to be delivered and vetting the capacity of the partner to hit those marks. That is the only route to completing this needed redevelopment, rather than disappointing the waiting public, yet again.
