The state and Aloha Ha­lawa District Partners still have some boxes to check off before a contract is signed to move forward on developing the new Aloha Stadium Entertainment District, including construction of the stadium itself.

But officials expressed optimism at Wednesday’s monthly Stadium Authority meeting that any remaining hurdles are not insurmountable. It is expected the questions can be addressed soon enough to keep the timeline on pace to open the new facility in time for the 2028 football season.

The companies comprising AHDP will receive $450 million authorized by the state Legislature to build and run the stadium, and in exchange can profit from other NASED development.

A state committee is in the process of evaluating AHDP’s proposal submitted before last month’s deadline. AHDP still must meet state requirements to be awarded the job. It’s a big one, including designing, building, operating and maintaining a new multiuse stadium with capacity for at least 25,000 people, and development of a wide variety of real estate on 93 acres of state land surrounding the stadium.

AHDP includes local, national and international companies, with Development Ventures Group Inc., Stanford Carr Development LLC, Ameresco Inc. and Aloha Stadium Community Development LLC (The Cordish Co.) as the lead equity members.

RMA Architects, Populous, SB Architects, Henning Larsen, Alakea Design Group and WCIT Architects comprise the design team, while Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co. Inc. and AECOM Hunt make up the construction team. Castle &Cooke Hawai‘i and Wilson Okamoto Corp. are the other team members.

AHDP representatives have declined comment, citing confidentiality agreements in place until a contract is awarded by the state.

Because there was only one group of contractors to evaluate, officials earlier said they might be done with approvals at least two weeks ahead of the end-of- September deadline.

“There have been requests for clarifications and some have already been received. The committee has had weekly meetings (with AHDP),” Aloha Stadium Deputy Manager Chris Sadayasu said. “We we’re hoping for early September, but more time is needed to get some questions answered.”

Also at Wednesday’s meeting, Stadium Manager Ryan Andrews announced the formation of a subcommittee of the Stadium Authority board to work on NASED called a Permitted Interaction Group. Its purpose is to interact with other state agencies and the public in a “coordinated stakeholder approach,” Andrews said.