The Ige administration is going “in a different direction” on the plan to build a New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District, according to an email from the governor’s chief of staff to the state comptroller.

Gov. David Ige’s chief of staff, Linda Chu Takayama, told comptroller Curt Otaguro to stop work on requests for proposals for both the $350 million stadium and the privately funded real estate portions of NASED, according to the email sent late last week and obtained by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

This comes after a recent shift that put the stadium under control of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism instead of the Department of Accounting and General Services.

The email read, in part: “Both RFPs that you have been working on in DAGS should not be going forward, as we will be moving in a different direction under DBEDT. Please consider tying up any loose ends from your side.”

The email also indicated that the Environmental Impact Statement to build in the Halawa area will be approved by Ige.

“Our current strategy is to accept the original EIS on stadium very soon, acknowledging that the responsibility and funding for the stadium now rests with the Stadium Authority and DBEDT,” Takayama wrote.

There was no direct mention of the so-called Public Private Partnership funding model.

“We don’t know what this new direction is,” Aloha Stadium manager Ryan Andrews said. “But we are all very interested in finding out.”

In a phone interview Tuesday, Otaguro said he was surprised by the email, but also, “We get our marching orders from the governor, so we continue on and follow the law.“

“The model we thought made sense was (Public Private Partnership),” Otaguro said. “It’s one of the few that could make a profit long-term.”

Chris Kinimaka, the public works administrator for DAGS, was also surprised by the order to stop work on the RFPs.

“It was a lightning bolt out of the blue,” Kinimaka said. “Curt has been going back and forth with the governor, telling him if he ever wants us to stop just tell us. He never indicated for us to stop.”

Cindy McMillan, Ige’s communications director, told the Star-Advertiser late this afternoon, “The administration is currently conducting its due diligence following the enactment of laws this year relating to Aloha Stadium.

“We are committed to developing a feasible course of action for the University’s sports programs, UH fans, and the State of Hawaii,” she said.

The recently enacted laws transfer the administrative attachment of the Stadium Authority from DAGS to DBEDT and appropriated general obligation bond funds to DBEDT for a new stadium in Halawa.

The UH football team has played its home games at the on-campus Ching Complex since last season. The team’s former home, Aloha Stadium, which opened in 1975, was closed for safety reasons in December 2020.

UH built what was a practice field into a 9,000-seat facility for the 2021 season. The school announced plans last month to expand capacity to 17,000 in time for the 2023 season as part of a $30 million athletic department facilities project.