Downtown post office deal approved
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
The Board of Land and Natural Resources has approved a state request to purchase the downtown Honolulu Post Office building.
The state wants to move offices of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs from the Princess Victoria Kamamalu building on Richards Street, which needs major renovations, to the historic post office.
The U.S. Postal Service has been attempting to sell the building, at Merchant and Richards streets, but is requiring that the post office retain a perpetual right to remain at the location.
Ivan Nishiki, leasing program manager for the state Department of Accounting and General Services, asked the board to approve a plan to buy about two-thirds of the building, but land board chairman Gilbert Coloma-Agaran said the state should attempt to buy the entire building and lease a portion back to the Postal Service.
DCCA has $27 million in special finances that could be used to buy the 79-year-old building and may need to find additional money.
Two other attempts to buy the building recently have failed. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs looked into buying the property in 2000, but never completed the deal.
A sale to a private developer who wanted to turn it into a $54 million Galleria Shopping Center also fell through last year.
State officials will now go back to the Postal Service and attempt to negotiate a deal.
In another action Friday, the board agreed to an extension for Hawaiian Electric Co.'s conservation district use application to build a new power line up Wa'ahila Ridge above M?noa Valley.
The Land Board approved a 150-day extension to allow itself more time to decide on HECO's plan to install steel poles and high-voltage power lines on the ridge.
HECO asked for a 90-day extension on its conservation district use application, but Coloma-Agaran said an additional 60 days would allow the body more time to fully evaluate the issues. Without any extension, the project would have been automatically approved Feb. 14.
HECO wants to install a transmission line to link the Pukele substation at the back of Palolo Valley to the Kamoku substation at Date and Kamoku streets, 3.8 miles away. The $31 million project would replace the existing 40-foot poles with new ones as tall as 120 feet.
HECO officials say the work is needed to ensure service to 54 percent of their customers and to prevent major power failures.
Malama o Manoa, Life of the Land and the Outdoor Circle have argued that the transmission line is unnecessary, that it could cause health problems and that the bigger poles would be an eyesore.
A HECO representative and Henry Curtis, head of the Life of the Land, agreed to the extension at the meeting.
Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.
