Med school synergy our brightest hope

The single truly bright hope for Hawai'i's struggling economy poised to emerge from the special legislative session is a commitment to go forward with the university's new medical school complex in Kaka'ako.

Of the 17 bills under consideration in the special session, only one — the medical school — goes beyond the generally worthy but mundane palliative measures that typify this package.

Extending unemployment benefits, healthcare and social welfare to the newly unemployed, tinkering with tax relief and assuring airport security are all needed Band-Aids to stop the bleeding — that is, treatment of symptoms rather than the disease.

But the bill authorizing $150 million in revenue bonds backed up by tobacco settlement money for a new medical school and health and wellness center in Kaka'ako promises genuine, substantial progress in the state's decades-old battle for economic diversification.

The state's commitment represents but one-third of the battle. The University of Hawai'i has promised to match that $150 million with a like sum raised privately.

And now the third portion begins to fall into place as the Kamehameha Schools and the Victoria Ward Estate, the two biggest private property owners in Kaka'ako, announce their intention to craft a joint master plan for the redevelopment of their adjoining lands.

Victoria Ward and Kamehameha Schools had previous plans for this neighborhood, including residential towers, entertainment and retail complexes and office developments. But now it's clear that the engine of growth for this area is likely to be the medical school, with its related research and wellness facilities. Kamehameha Schools already is planning to develop a $100 million high-tech office complex on 12 acres adjoining the medical school site.

The two landowners have contracted with the same high-powered urban planner that helped the university decide on the Kaka'ako site to help them see more clearly the possibilities for new development and re-energizing of existing businesses in the area.

It's an exciting prospect — the sort of thing we sorely need more of.

And it's the one measure that the Legislature must approve.