Biotech promise still unfulfilled in Kaka'ako
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At the groundbreaking for the John A. Burns School of Medicine in October 2002, Dean Ed Cadman's vision for a world-class biotech campus in Kaka'ako was promising. He looked makai and saw, in his mind's eye, a biotech center that would bring fame, fortune, companies and jobs to Hawai'i.
Six years later, that dream is unrealized.
The groundbreaking generated lots of excitement about biotech. But that dissipated in 2005, when the administration downplayed Cadman's vision in favor of turning over oceanfront land to Alexander & Baldwin for high-rise condos. Faced with widespread resistance from groups that wanted to preserve the oceanfront, the A&B project was stopped cold, and things have been largely silent since.
More recently, the administration set up a citizen advisory committee to act as a buffer for the Hawai'i Community Development Authority, the state agency that controls planning in Kaka'ako. This committee has 45 members, including surfers, artists and environmentalists, with an array of agendas. After a year, they haven't gotten past a discussion of the "guiding principles" intended to lead to the "vision statement."
Cadman stepped down as dean in 2005, and is no longer in the conversation. This year — two interim deans later — the university found a replacement, Jerris Hedges, from the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine. Given the unfinished business in Kaka'ako, Hedges has his work cut out for him.
Although the "JABSOM II" incubator originally contemplated makai of the Burns School of Medicine (also known as JABSOM) was never funded and is now history, there are three other biotech projects still on the table, each with its own issues, that could spawn a biotech community in Kaka'ako:
Everyone has a kind of moderated optimism about these projects. We've heard so many promises, progress reports and time lines about biotech projects in Kaka'ako that we're numb on expectations.
Assuming these three projects really happen, will there be enough land for any other biotech projects there? The answer is yes, says Tony Ching, executive director of the HCDA. There are other locations near the park at Point Panic and the Children's Discovery Center. So if Merck came around looking for space, they might still find it.
The failed A&B project was more than a lightning rod — it was an agent of long-term change. Where the earlier focus had been on building a biotech campus, the A&B project shifted the focus to preservation — protecting the oceanfront and stopping development — and away from Cadman's dream of a dedicated campus. Now everyone wants a piece of Kaka'ako.
The future of the land in Kaka'ako makai, perhaps the most valuable undeveloped oceanfront in Hawai'i, is still largely unsettled and in a time warp. It's not as if you get ahead by being patient. Each endless planning evolution seems to lead only to the next one. So far, it's been a waiting game without results.
Time runs quickly in the world of biotech. Delay is not our friend, and at this point it's not likely that Cadman's dream will be realized anytime soon. For now, we can only hope that these projects will finally get going and give us new confidence for the future.
