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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, March 15, 2003

KCC Culinary Institute to expand at former club on Diamond Head

By Zenaida Serrano Espanol
Advertiser Staff Writer

The University of Hawai'i Board of Regents authorized the UH administration yesterday to acquire the lease for the former U.S. Army Cannon Club at Diamond Head, which would be used to create a graduate program to expand Kapi'olani Community College's Culinary Institute of the Pacific.

It would be a 65-year lease of the 7.878-acre site at $1 a year, plus a one-time cost of $440,000 for the building, with the payment going to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, said Sam Callejo, director of capital improvements for the university system.

"We're pleased because that's what we wanted," Callejo said.

The board has also instructed Callejo to try to persuade DLNR to set a lower price for the building. The existing building will be torn down to make way for a two-story structure on the same site.

UH has requested $1.4 million for planning costs, but the current version of the budget bill before the Legislature provides only $150,000. Construction costs would be much more, but the university is looking for private community partnerships to defray costs. There is hope of forming a partnership with the Army or other interested groups, or even using revenue bonds.

"It will likely be a combination of that to come up with the construction funding," Kapi'olani Community College Provost John Morton told the board during committee meetings Thursday. "I think there's a lot of aloha in the community for it to be used for culinary training."

Advertiser education writer Beverly Creamer contributed to this report.