The Aloha Stadium Authority is waiting for direction from Gov. David Ige to see how it should proceed with a state-commissioned study designed to determine the future of the aging 50,000-seat facility.
The unpaid nine-member panel was overseeing the fifth phase of an eight-phase study surrounding the 41-year-old stadium when the governor said Dec. 11 he favored maintaining the current facility rather than building a new one.
“I don’t believe that we have the funds to rebuild (Aloha Stadium) right now,” Ige told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Editorial Board in response to a question about its future. “There are many other more important priorities. So, I think that the best thing we can do is keep it maintained and take care of health and safety issues.”
The state already has committed $405,000 to New York-based consultant Foley &Lardner and invested more than two years in a study commissioned under Ige’s predecessor, Neil Abercrombie.
At Thursday’s meeting, the first since the governor’s remarks, some members said they were disappointed in Gov. Ige’s statement and expressed “frustration” before going into executive session.
Discussion concerning a plan for issuing a request for proposals for the stadium site, including possible commercial and transit-oriented development, has been pushed back to the Authority’s Jan. 14 meeting. Authority chairman Charles Toguchi said he hopes to meet with Ige in the interim.
“Given that we’re putting in a lot of money for upkeep and the fact that mass transit is coming to the stadium and the opportunities for transit-oriented or commercial development to offset some of the costs, it was timely to take a look at the opportunity to build a new stadium,” Toguchi said Friday.
“Having the background myself as a former legislator and also being a former chief of staff (to Gov. Ben Cayetano) I also understand the competing needs that also have to be taken care of,” Toguchi said. “I may be just concerned about the stadium but I’m sure the governor has other concerns. Hopefully, we can fit in somewhere, because there is a need for the stadium and I think it is a wonderful opportunity now that a HART station is going to be located there at the stadium.”
