HPU may expand Windward site

By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer

Hawai'i Pacific University is setting itself up for major expansion on its 135-acre Windward campus site next to Pali Highway, launching a $2.1 million fund-raising drive to connect to the city sewage system.

Hawai'i Pacific University students, from left, Matthew Smyth of San Diego, Carmen Nolte of Germany and Mikael Maatta of Sweden study during lunch at Fort Street Mall, a gathering place for the downtown campus. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Where that growth will occur is one of the biggest questions facing the state's second-largest university.

Wright is not sure whether HPU will expand downtown or at its Hawai'i Loa campus on the Windward side, where only 65 of its 135 acres are in use.

As the university launches a potentially three-year strategic planning process, Wright wonders about city and state commitment to downtown, with resources that could be stretched thin by the new University of Hawai'i Medical School planned for Kaka'ako and an enlarged West O'ahu campus set for Kapolei.

"It's the center of city and state government, and houses a lot of chief businesses, but will it continue to be?" Wright said. "Will the landowners continue to invest and improve the area, or will they let it slide, as happens in some American cities? We're interested in the mix of what would be down here. We're interested in a vibrant center of the city."

Wright also expressed distress that social services for the mentally ill, homeless and, most recently, sex offenders appear to be targeted for buildings near those used by students at the downtown campus.

"These things were not in the environment when we went there," he said. "We're not against the agencies' work, but we can't have our people be victimized by it."

With 4,500 students at the campus and space leased in seven buildings — plus a multitude of rented apartments and parking spaces — HPU is the third-largest downtown tenant, after Bank of Hawai'i and First Hawaiian Bank. As such, it is one of the area's primary economic drivers and a force for stability.

Any HPU pullback from downtown could be devastating, said landowner Dick Gushman, who co-owns three of the buildings occupied by the university and is also one of its trustees.

"It would be a tremendous blow not only to downtown but Hawai'i," said Gushman, speaking as a landowner. "The implications of that would be enormous: It would mean our financial business district is not safe for a school. You don't want that message anywhere."

Gushman said HPU provides a huge financial infusion to downtown and the state as a whole.

"They account for about $250 million of the state's GDP a year. We don't have an accurate account of money spent downtown, but it's somewhere north of $30 million. And that doesn't include the hundreds of apartments occupied by students and faculty and the parking garages all through downtown also packed with faculty and staff cars."

City Managing Director Ben Lee is equally concerned, and has pledged whatever cooperation HPU needs. "In terms of working with the city, we'll give them full support, whatever it is that they need," he said. "We certainly would like to keep them there."

The city is pressing to clean up the Fort Street Mall area, where students congregate and often had to compete for bench space with transients until the benches were removed recently. Lee has asked the police department and parks department to close the mall at night, when classes are over, to prevent illegal activities and "inappropriate behavior" and ensure student safety. Most of the buildings occupied by HPU front the mall.

Wright said he was encouraged by recent moves to revive a downtown community association, and called efforts to privatize Fort Street Mall "highly favorable." Currently the mall is maintained by the city as a public street.

"If the downtown area is going to resume its improvement, then we want to have a positive stake," he said. "If it isn't, we have other options for the university's future."

Wright said his concerns about the commitment to downtown began about three years ago, when service programs for the recovering mentally ill — Safe Haven and the Clubhouse — were moved to buildings next to those leased by HPU. Joining forces with St. Andrew's Priory, HPU helped block a plan to have sex offenders report to a paroling site nearby.

"If things like this continue to be placed in this area, it would be a detriment to our downtown setting. It's not compatible with what we're doing," he said.

"We're not looking to pull out of the area, but to have an environment that's safe and attractive for bringing people from all over the world."

Wright's concerns persist, he said, because of incidents involving HPU students and mental health clients. He would not give specific details, but Michelle Stanley, Clubhouse program manager for the state Health Department's Adult Mental Health Division, said the only incident she knows about occurred about a year ago, when an HPU security guard reported two Clubhouse members "doing some sexual things" in an alley between the buildings. HPU wrote a letter of complaint, she said, and the Clubhouse used the opportunity to work with the people involved.

"We sat down and talked to them about what was appropriate to do in public," Stanley said. "There hasn't been a problem since."

Stanley believes that in many ways the two entities work together well. The Clubhouse has been the site of practicums for HPU social work students, and computer students are now working to upgrade the Clubhouse system as part of a class project.

As Wright moves forward with a strategic planning process that will involve the HPU community of 1,300 employees, faculty and staff, he said, how and where to grow will continue to be a major focus — and not just because of the planned sewer improvements.

For the time being, however, nothing will change, as HPU takes three years to raise money to link the school to a city and county pumping station in Kane'ohe.

Once that occurs, Wright said, there will be "plenty of room to grow."

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.