Navy renovation plans model for cooperative projects
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
A prototype partnership between the Navy and a private developer will mean the construction of new family homes, shops and restaurants on historic Ford Island, and the availability of 2,000 new rental units open to civilians at Kalaeloa and Iroquois Point.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
Hawai'i legislators, Navy officials and representatives of Fluor Hawai'i LLC took part in the ceremonial contract signing of a master planning and development agreement yesterday on the fantail of the battleship Missouri.
Navy Lt. Commander Charlene Mowery presents a ceremonial contract for Adm. Bernard McCullough,left, Adm. Walter Doran, Sen. Dan Inouye and Congressman Neil Abercrombie marking the Ford Island redevelopment plan awarded to Hunt Building Co.
"I think we'll be the model for projects to come all across the nation," U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, said.
The Navy, which wants to centralize operations and increase efficiency by consolidating services in the Pearl Harbor area, last year picked a "medium intensity" development plan for Ford Island that calls for a maximum of 420 family housing units, bachelor-enlisted quarters for up to 1,000 personnel and 190,000 square feet of office space.
Under special legislation passed by Congress in 1999, Fluor is getting a 65-year lease on 34 acres of Ford Island land, and the lease and eventual title to some outlying Navy parcels in exchange for making infrastructure improvements and taking on the planning process at Ford Island.
Fluor's plans for the 34 acres include a 50,000-square foot waterfront promenade with shops and restaurants, a 16-acre, three-story community of 300 two-bedroom apartments, and a 16-acre development with 130 two-story townhomes with two- and three-bedroom units. The housing is expected to be built in four to seven years.
The Ford Island development will be open to Defense Department personnel, but the units at Kalaeloa — the old Barbers Point Naval Air Station — and Iroquois Point, will be opening to the civilian market, officials said.
Navy families occupy about 630 units out of 2,000 that are expected to be available.
The single family, duplex and apartment buildings were built between the 1950s and 1990s, and are in varying states of repair, said Chris Hunt, executive vice president of Hunt Building Co. Ltd.
Hunt said increasing the numbers of occupants at Kalaeloa will be a step toward the redevelopment of the former Navy base. The Navy retained 1,052 acres when the base was closed in 1999.
The Navy is selling or leasing the 34 acres on Ford Island, 400 acres at Iroquois Point/Pu'uloa, 130 acres at Kalaeloa, 515 acres at Waikele Naval Magazine, and 6.6 acres at Halawa Landing.
A 22.7-acre Military Aviation Museum of the Pacific is also planned, along with the renovation of the old theater to a conference center. The Navy, meanwhile, is building a $18.9 million "Navy Lodge," and 140 housing units.
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
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