State officials broke ground yesterday on a $21 million, two-story headquarters for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands in East Kapolei.

When about 100 employees move in next January, it will be the first department in the state to move a majority of its staff to O'ahu's Second City.

Gov. Linda Lingle and Hawaiian Homes Commission Chairman Micah Kane said that while it's easier to obtain permits and meet with business associates in Downtown Honolulu — where DHHL leases space at the Alii Plaza on Alakea Street — it makes more sense for the agency to make its permanent home in the 'Ewa Plain.

"Over 60 percent of the beneficiaries (live) in this part of the island," Lingle said.

"It's not righteous to be in an office building in Downtown Honolulu."

The building is being named Hale Kalaniana'ole after Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana'ole, who is widely credited with having established the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920 that led to the establishment of the DHHL.

In addition to 45,000 square feet of office space, the building will have a 2,700-square-foot conference area.

The building is one of a series of developments being undertaken in Kapolei by DHHL that will include hundreds of homes and a 67-acre regional shopping center.