Tennis complex opening to concerns about costs
By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Central O'ahu Writer
A $10.6 million tennis complex at Central O'ahu Regional Park will open Saturday to promises of national tournaments and tourism dollars — as well as another burden to a city administration looking to cut costs.
Advertiser library photo • Jan. 21, 2003
This weekend's grand opening marks the completion of the second phase of the $65 million, 269-acre regional park off Kamehameha Highway, near Ka Uka Boulevard and Waipi'o Gentry. The park is a showplace of open space and recreational amenities, but its success has been overshadowed by cost overruns and questions about how the facility will be operated and managed.
Central O'ahu Regional Park's $10.6 million tennis complex promises to be the best tennis facility in the state.
There is concern that the park may go the way of the Waipi'o Soccer Complex, which opened in September 2000 and also hosts major tournaments. The soccer complex was supposed to be operated privately, at no cost to city taxpayers, but no such deal has emerged to cover its annual maintenance costs, revised downward yesterday to $554,000 from $750,000.
The annual cost to maintain the regional park, including the tennis complex, is estimated at $723,500, not including water and electricity, said city managing director Ben Lee. Yesterday was the first time such figures have been made public.
Costs should be reduced when a private operator is hired to manage the tennis complex, though no operator has been contracted so far. Officials said bids would be solicited soon.
Yesterday, the city's parks director raised new concerns about whether an operator for the tennis complex could be found.
Testifying before the City Council Budget Committee on a bill that would allow fees to be charged for use of facilities including the soccer park, Central O'ahu Regional Park and Hans L'Orange Baseball Facility, city parks director Bill Balfour said plans to find a private operator to run the soccer park had been unsuccessful.
"What they were doing, to use the vernacular, is that they were taking the gravy and we were getting the bones," Balfour said. "That doesn't work. They either take it all, or we take it all."
Balfour said the city was looking for someone to run the tennis complex, but "I'm not sure how successful that will be. Unfortunately, good intentions don't always pan out."
Councilman Charles Djou raised the issue of cost overruns connected to Central O'ahu Regional Park.
"I'm concerned, and I believe the council was misled that this park was supposed to be self-sufficient," Djou said. "We're finding that we constantly have to bail it out, either in the form of additional subsidies, or now in the form of additional fees."
The bill to impose fees passed out of committee by a 3-2 vote, with council members Djou and Barbara Marshall voting against it, concerned it would allow fees to be charged at other parks.
"I think a park is a park, and parks are meant to be free," Djou said, adding that the bill might be nothing but a "backdoor tax increase."
The city says its investment in the tennis facility will pay economic dividends, because it was designed to lure national, international, even professional tournaments to the state.
For its grand opening, the facility will host a five-day national tournament starting Saturday — the 2003 United States Tennis Association National Junior Tennis Championships — bringing in about 125 players from 21 states. With coaches and families staying in Hawai'i for nearly a week, the city estimates the tournament will inject around $125,000 to the economy.
Fox Sports plans to follow one of the USTA players for a televised segment, providing national exposure for the facility and the state.
For the Hawai'i tennis community, the new complex — the largest and best in the state — is a godsend.
"The biggest thing is that this will take Hawai'i tennis to a world-class level," said Bernard Gusman, tournament director and director of tennis at Punahou School.
Ron Romano, executive director of the USTA's Hawai'i-Pacific Section, is trying to bring to Hawai'i in November the USTA Futures Tournament, which features up-and-coming professional players on the world tour.
"(The facility) is going to be a great benefit to the tennis community in Hawai'i," Romano said.
The 20-court, tournament-style complex includes two show courts: a sunken clubhouse court that can seat 1,100 spectators, and an exhibition-style court with capacity for 2,200. Twelve of the courts have TV-quality lighting for night play.
The complex will host the state high school championships in May and serve as home court for the University of Hawai'i women's tennis team.
On days when no tournaments or league play are going on, at least half the courts will be open to the public, officials said. That's good news for the more than 80,000 people who play tennis in Hawai'i.
The first phase of Central O'ahu Regional Park, which included baseball fields and landscaped grounds, opened in July 2001. The last phase will be an aquatics center, expected to open in the next few years.
A 20-lane archery range also will open Saturday.
Although the city has been criticized for mistakes in designing and managing the park, residents see it as a source of community pride.
On weekends, hundreds of families relax in the park, playing baseball, having picnics, walking dogs. It offers enough space for adult softball leagues, family get-togethers and baby lu'aus, as well as expansive views of Diamond Head, the Ko'olau mountains, the Wai'anae Range and Pearl Harbor.
"There are no bad views," Gusman said. "That's what I like about this facility. (The city) did it right."
Advertiser staff writers Treena Shapiro and Johnny Brannon contributed to this report.
Reach Catherine E. Toth at 535-8103 or ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.
