West Oahu Neighborhood News

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State officials report they are getting closer to finalizing zoning and infrastructure plans for the redevelopment of the former Barbers Point Naval Air Station in Kalaeloa. The base was closed in 1999, and planners proposed a housing/commercial development project in 2005 that would call for up to 6,350 homes and 3 million square feet of commercial space on the 3,700-acre property.

Eight drafts have been proposed in four years, with upgrades to the Navy’s old electrical, water, sewer and road systems posing the biggest roadblocks. The Hawaii Community Development Authority estimates improvements would cost $550 million.

Other challenges include a general-aviation airport and Coast Guard station at the former base, as well as the possible inclusion of Kalaeloa in the city’s rail transit line.

* The joint venture of Kiewit/Kobayashi has been awarded the contract to design and build the Maintenance and Storage Facility for the Honolulu Rail Transit Project, which will be built on 43 acres next to Leeward Community College and Waipahu High School.

The contact award is approximately $195 million, about $60 million less than budgeted for the project, according to city officials.

The complex will include an operations and servicing building for the rail project, a train-wash facility and two additional maintenance structures. Per a city requirement, all buildings will be environmentally friendly and utilize sustainable features such as photovoltaic panels, vegetated roofs, natural lighting and ventilation and water-efficient landscaping. Recycled materials also must be used when possible.

* Safeway Inc. plans to build eight stores in Hawaii within the next three years, including a 217,671-square-foot store at Laulani Village in Ewa Beach. The supermarket is expected to open in 2012.

Also planned for growing West Oahu is a Walgreens drugstore, slated for development in Kapolei as well as eight other locations statewide. Robert Roscoe, Walgreens divisional vice president of asset development, said the expansion will occur within the next two years.

* The city awarded HDR/Hawaii Pacific Engineers a $5.5 million contract to design three rail transit stations along Farrington Highway at West Loch, Waipahu Transit Center and Leeward Community College.

Principal consultant for the project is Lester Fukuka of the firm’s Honolulu office. The employee-owned architecture, engineering and consulting firms employ more than 7,800 professionals in more than 185 locations worldwide.