AIEA, Hawaii — With a revenue report and swap meet security update out of the way, stadium manager Ryan Andrews grinned as he got to the sweet part of a Stadium Authority meeting on Halloween.

No trick: The New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District project is moving forward.

The long-delayed undertaking formally advanced one step closer to realization with the state’s announcement Thursday that it signed off on a framework agreement with lone bidder Aloha Halawa District Partners for the 98-acre site’s development.

What You Need To Know

  • The long-delayed NASED project formally advanced one step closer to realization with the state’s announcement Thursday that it signed off on a framework agreement with Aloha Halawa District Partners

  • Eight months remain to shore up details in the “diligence and discussion” phase with a June 30, 2025 target for full contract execution, while specifics of AHDP's proposal are expected to be announced over the next eight weeks

  • The start of the 2028 University of Hawaii football season remains the target for a ready-to-use stadium of at least 25,000 seats

  • A five-person committee appointed by the Department of Accounting and General Services was able to get clarity on questions it had about AHDP's general proposal

After a wait of more than a month while a five-person committee appointed by the Department of Accounting and General Services kicked back AHDP’s general proposal with some questions, AHDP was accepted as the “preferred offeror” of the state’s public-private partnership procurement process.

Eight months remain to shore up details in the “diligence and discussion” phase with a June 30, 2025 target for full contract execution. The state still projects a ready-to-use, 25,000-seat stadium for the start of the 2028 University of Hawaii football season.

“Definitely relief and excitement because if we didn’t get to this point, the project stopped,” Andrews told Spectrum News. “This is a huge deal to be able to move this forward.

“Obviously we’re thrilled,” he added. “We’re also cognizant of the work ahead. Eight months is a really compressed time for a contract execution of this size, but we’re all rolling up our sleeves and putting our work boots on so we can get it done.”

Demolition of the corroded husk of old Aloha Stadium cannot take place until the contract is executed and AHDP is named the “master developer.”

Andrews said there were three areas that were flagged by the DAGS committee through the Request for Clarifications process.

While Andrews would not go into details on the areas of concern, he said “they included technical requirements of the stadium, they included the financial proposal in general. Those were some of the key areas, making sure they (the committee) understood the numbers.”

The committee, whose membership has not been made public, signed off on the AHDP proposal on Wednesday, Andrews said. AHDP was notified before the Stadium Authority meeting Thursday morning.

The specifics of AHDP’s plan are to be laid out to the public over the next eight weeks, including at some community meetings. Stadium Authority board member Andrew Pereira noted those details will conform with the minimum requirements the state laid out in its Request For Proposals in December 2023.

“I know everyone’s champing at the bit to see what this is,” Andrews said in response to a community member’s question on the meeting’s video call. “We do have to sit down with AHDP and talk about when we will release images and details. We expect that before Christmas, so it will be a Christmas gift to the community, is what we’re hoping for and planning for.”

AHDP is comprised of: Development Ventures Group, Inc., Stanford Carr Development, LLC, Ameresco, Inc., and Aloha Stadium Community Development, LLC (The Cordish Company) as the lead equity members; RMA Architects, Populous, SB Architects, Henning Larsen, Alakea Design Group, and WCIT Architects as the design team; Hawaiian Dredging Construction Company, Inc. and AECOM Hunt as the construction team; and Castle & Cooke Hawaii and Wilson Okamoto Corporation as other team members.

Deputy stadium manager Chris Sadayasu said that elements that must be hashed out over the coming months include site condition surveys, establishing a process for permitting, finalizing a licensing agreement with UH and finalizing a finance plan. NASED and AHDP must also figure out basics about when to meet and how often, Andrews said. Stadium Authority Chair Brennon Morioka, who appeared at Thursday's meeting remotely, said the additional month of back-and-forth on clarifications between AHDP and NASED allowed for some of those matters to progress before Thursday's announcement.

The state has capped its commitment at $350 million for stadium construction, plus another $50 million in expenses. The procurement process calls for AHDP to put up the remaining cost of a stadium plus front the considerable expenses of the outlying residential and commercial development to be built out over decades.

Chris Kinimaka, a longtime stadium project steward with DAGS, thanked the NASED team, its supporters and AHDP, with “mahalo, mahalo, mahalo,” on the video call, but cautioned, “With each achievement, each uphill climb is even steeper and steeper. We’re not pau yet.”

Stadium Authority vice chair Eric Fujimoto ran the meeting in place of Morioka. Like Kinimaka, Fujimoto doled out credit and thank-yous for the NASED team and Morioka, but said “the job’s not done.”

“We’ve got four years to be stewards of this opportunity, to continue to communicate with the public, and we look forward to the challenges that lie ahead,” Fujimoto said.

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.