Posted on: Monday, March 7, 2005

Maui County may buy building

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau

WAILUKU, Maui — With Maui County's main government building jammed full, county officials are exploring the possibility of buying an 82,800-square-foot building with parking garage next door.

Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa said his staff has negotiated a letter of intent to buy One Main Plaza and he plans to include the estimated $10.5 million purchase in his 2006 budget, the single largest item in the proposed spending plan.

In addition, Arakawa said it will take at least another $4.5 million to repair and modify the building.

"Our Kalana O Maui County Building is bursting at the seams," he said. "We have an urgent need for engineers, planners and support staff, for example. But even if we hire them, we've got no place to put them."

One Main Plaza, owned by A&B Properties Inc., was built in 1989. Its main tenants are Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, the University of Phoenix and Prudential Insurance.

Arakawa said buying One Main Plaza is "an opportunity we cannot afford to pass up." It will also demonstrate county government's commitment to Wailuku Town, he said.

"It will allow our employees the room to operate more effectively and efficiently, provide for future growth and all within easy walking distance from this building at a cost we could not replicate if we built a new building," he said.

Maui County Council chairman Riki Hokama said he supports the acquisition and that he wouldn't be surprised if other council members do also when the mayor's budget is presented the panel on March 15.

With a growing community demanding more services, and space growing tighter in the nine-story Kalana O Maui building, the county has been moving offices to other locations in Wailuku and elsewhere in recent years.

For the past year, a contractor has been working to repair the facade of the 32-year-old county building.

Arakawa also announced recently that the county's Department of Motor Vehicles soon will open satellite offices in Pukalani, Kihei, and Lahaina.

The satellite offices will relieve pressure on the three-year-old Maui Mall Service Center in Kahului, allowing the DMV to operate more efficiently, the mayor said.

Reach Timothy Hurley at thurley@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 244-4880.