HONOLULU (KHON2) — Construction on the New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District is moving forward at the end of summer. Officials confirmed the move with an application to the city last week.
This permit may not look like much, but it’s the next significant step in Hawaiʻi’s journey to build the New Aloha Stadium.
“It may just be the submission of a demolition permit, but it’s really a huge milestone for us,” said Brennan Morioka, Stadium Authority chair. “It’s marking the real start, the tangible start of, you know, tearing down the old and starting to build the new.”
The demolition permit was filed May 23 by the Aloha Halawa District Partners, the group that is building the new stadium and entertainment district. The group is applying for it now, in hopes the city approves it by the time the demo is scheduled to start in August.
There’s a pretty good reason why the condemned stadium is still standing.
“The worst case scenario would’ve been if Company A destroys the stadium, Company B comes in to build the new stadium and says ‘eh you know the destruction wasn’t right, I’m gonna file a lawsuit, we’re gonna have all kinds of grievances,’” said Sen. Glenn Wakai. “This way, if Stanford Carr is not happy with the demolition, well that’s his demolition.”
We are in the final phase of procurement process for construction for the new stadium. At this time, the state and the developer can finalize any negotiations, hammer out any last-minute details, and get input from the community and key stakeholders.
“Totally understand the frustration, just because people don’t see the whole procurement process,” Morioka said. “But now that the demolition is going to be starting in August, you know, I think hopefully attitudes and perceptions will change about this project.”
The deadline for the developer to sign the contract was June 30, but Morioka says that was a self-imposed deadline to keep the state on track. He says the contract may be signed as late as July, but that won’t affect any deadlines since permitting for demo has already started.
And he says the plan is once the demo starts, construction won’t stop until it’s done.
“I think this is a really good confidence booster for the public to see that you know sometimes government can get it right,” Wakai said.
“We are moving forward, this project is going to happen, and that, all of us are very excited that, you know, hopefully we’re going to be getting that stadium come 2028 time period,” Morioka said.