State to renovate railway building
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
When Harris Melemai was living on Desha Lane in Iwilei about 60 years ago, one of the "rascal" things the boy would do was to sneak into the old Oahu Railway and Land Terminal building to watch the trains filled with sugar cane arrive.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
"As a little boy, things were hard financially and that was the only amusement we had right in the neighborhood," Melemai said. "I never got a chance to ride the trains, but I use to see it and look on in amazement. "We would go inside as much as they would let us. The gentlemen in their black uniforms told us not to get too close. We were little kids, ya? They didn't want us to get hurt. Those big, beautiful trains were, to me, one of the most loveliest things to see."
The former Oahu Railway & Land Terminal at the corner of North King Street and Iwilei Road is nearly 75 years old.
Almost 75 years old, the OR&L Terminal at the corner of North King Street and Iwilei Road, hasn't seen a train in many years.
The once busy center of commerce now sits dark and empty with its Spanish style arched walkways reduced to a covered spot for homeless people to lay out their cardboard beds.
A chainlink fence surrounds the property and, with its doors and windows bolted shut, little light penetrates the inside.
But the run-down area is on the verge of new life as the state is investing $1.64 million to renovate the historic building and is planning another $34.7 million to build an elderly residential complex on adjacent property.
Work on the terminal building will begin first as construction crews this month gut the building and install new electrical, plumbing and air-conditioning systems, said Gordon Matsuoka, public works administrator for the state Department of Accounting and General Services.
That major occupant will be the state Department of Human Services, which has run an office out of the building and will move back in next fall when work is completed. Space also will be allocated for other government and nonprofit healthcare providers.
Human Services Director Susan Chandler said many low income and homeless people live in the area and the location is perfect for her clients. But the building has become unusable over the years.
"It's a fabulous building, but the inside was pretty horrible," Chandler said. "They couldn't even put in an additional phone line. When people were complaining they couldn't get through and they couldn't upgrade the phone system, it was time to renovate."
George Harris, board president of the Community Health Outreach Worker project, a state program that hands out condoms and sterile needles to prevent the further spread of AIDS, is hoping to find a permanent home in the renovated building.
The program was criticized by some Chinatown residents last month who said that the group's vans parked on public streets near homes were attracting more criminals into the community, which has been trying to clean itself up using the federal Weed & Seed crime-fighting program.
The terminal "would be an ideal location for us," Harris said. "It is right on the edge of Chinatown and the assumption is that we would have a sympathetic landlord in (the Department of Human Services) and supportive of our program."
Chandler said the department has shared the building with a variety of public health services and that will continue.
Built for sugar
The railway depo was built in 1927 in a Spanish mission style and replaced an older wood frame building. The four-sided clock tower tops the two-story structure with its beige stucco walls, red tile roof and ground floor arcade.
Benjamin F. Dillingham started the OR&L railroad company in 1889 and at its peak trains ran west to Wai'anae, around Kaena Point and on to Kahuku helping to develop the sugar industry.
Besides freight, the OR&L provided plantation workers with easy access to Honolulu.
The railroad prospered until the 1930s, when improved roads led to its decline. Trains continued to run through World War II, but in 1947 all operations outside Honolulu were abandoned. Shortly thereafter operations in Honolulu also ended.
The building served as a bus depot for many years until becoming the home to nonprofit businesses and government services.
Elderly housing
On adjacent state property, an elderly residential project is being planned by the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism and the Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii.
It will include a 21-story residential tower with 156 units connected to a two-story community services building for adult day care programs, offices and a recreation deck. They also plan a 139-stall parking structure on state land surrounding the old railway terminal.
An additional office tower could be built in the future.
According to the state's draft Environmental Impact Statement on the project, the state-owned property is "underutilized and deteriorating and vacant structure that present an image of neglect and blight."
The location on the edge of Chinatown is one of the last development sites close to downtown. Shopping for basic needs and amenities are within easy walking distance for the elderly residents.
A draft Environmental Impact Statement has been filed on the project and construction is expected to begin by mid-2002 and be completed by December 2004.
Lynne Matusow, chairwoman of the Downtown Neighborhood Board, said the elderly housing is needed and the location is close to shopping, entertainment and medical facilities that would be very beneficial to older people.
It will bring new residents and a new look to that entire section of the waterfront area, Matusow said.
"I like to see historic structures that make sense be saved," Matusow said. "You have to look at the purpose it serves the community. To save a building just to save a building, no, but if there are good reasons, that makes sense."
Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.
