UH plans new dorms but no quick fix for shortage

By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer

Galvanized by the immediate dorm-space crisis at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, a UH Board of Regents committee gave approval yesterday to fast-tracking a public/private partnership that would produce new or renovated dorms.

No new dorms have been built at Manoa since Hale Wainani went up in 1978.

"It's an area we didn't get a high grade in," said Board of Regents vice chairwoman Kitty Lagareta. "We need to fix it and fix it fast," she said referring to reports yesterday about the 1,400 students on the dorm waiting list at Manoa alone.

Regent Jim Haynes said the university hasn't done a good job in providing student housing. "We've failed," he said. "We shouldn't be in the business."

At the same time yesterday the regents' Committee on Budget and Long-Range Planning approved in principle a public/private partnership to begin planning for a four-year West O'ahu campus on state land in Kapolei, and a new Cancer Research Center of Hawai'i in Kaka'ako.

The full board is set to approve the committee's actions today.

But regents were careful to clarify that their actions regarding West O'ahu don't mean a commitment yet. Instead, the regents are asking developers to express their interest as a way to keep the door open as the university explores how best to proceed on a new campus in Kapolei, and how best to use private money and private developers to rapidly build dorms and a cancer center.

Concerning the dorm crisis, regent Jane Tatibouet suggested that regents "bundle" the oldest three dorms on Dole Street — Frear, Gateway and Johnson — in looking at working with a private developer to either renovate or rebuild. "If we don't start moving now, we're not going to see these rooms for a long time," Tatibouet said.

Chairwoman Patricia Lee agreed. "It's an area of really high priority to the regents," she said. "We have to also be looking at short-term (solutions.)"

Manoa interim housing director Margit Watts said she would try to find emergency space in the community for the overflow of students. Some are being referred to private off-campus housing in hotels and apartments.

Private individuals are invited to offer rental housing.

As many as 1,400 students are on the waiting list for dorm space at Manoa alone. Other campuses throughout the system are experiencing similar crunches.

UH-Hilo Chancellor Rose Tseng said her campus needs 650 dorm rooms, while virtually all of the community colleges are also in need. On Maui, a partnership with a private developer is seeing success, with new dorm rooms coming as part of a development near the campus.

Regent James Haynes asked capital improvement project director Jan Yokota to create a timeline for dorm construction when she comes back to the regents in September or October.

Yokota said she has been meeting with private developers, both local and from the Mainland, who have expertise in developing dorms and in the kind of construction needed for a cancer center next to the new John A. Burns School of Medicine in Kaka'ako.

In putting a new cancer center there, the only question is whether there will be space for a clinical portion, acknowledged director Carl Vogel. That piece is necessary, he said, to attract the substantial amount of federal money available for cancer research.

In giving Yokota the go-ahead to seek developer interest in a Kapolei campus, regents are looking at a three-phase development that would take up to 15 years to complete and could include selling or leasing about 170 acres to a private developer in exchange for building Phase 1 to accommodate more than 7,000 students.

In other business yesterday:

• A regent committee gave initial approval to the first increase in 10 years to admission prices at the Waikiki Aquarium, which is part of the university system. But regents were mindful of keeping admission free for children younger than 4, as well as seeing only a nominal increase — up to $2 at most — for children 5 to 12 years old. Final approval could come today.

• A committee postponed action until September on leasing the Atherton YMCA building at the corner of Sea View and University avenues until questions can be settled regarding its use by community groups for yoga, dance classes and other activities, and until the variance under which the Coffeeline cafe operates can be clarified.

Acting President David McClain indicated that the administration would try to determine a situation in which community groups could be accommodated in the spacious wood-floored activity center, Coffeeline could continue to operate and the College of Education would still get the office space it needs.

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.