UH Board of Regents approves selection of private developer for UH West Oahu project

HONOLULU — At its monthly meeting held this week at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, the UH Board of Regents (BOR) authorized the UH administration to enter into exclusive negotiations with West Oʻahu Campus Development, LLC (WOCD) for a comprehensive real estate development agreement for the University of Hawaiʻi—West Oʻahu (UHWO) campus.

"The Board of Regents took careful consideration of the process and selection of a private developer for the West Oʻahu campus project, and we will continue to monitor the progress of the project as it moves along," said UH BOR Vice Chair Alvin Tanaka. "This is a huge undertaking and a new way of doing things for the university. We appreciate the administration‘s due diligence throughout the process and look forward to seeing this project come to fruition."

WOCD is a limited liability company whose sole owner is Hunt ELP, Ltd. of El Paso, Texas. Hunt is a privately held real estate development and construction firm with particular focus on the development of traditional and privatized military housing with over 40,000 units developed to date. Hunt‘s most relevant current experience is its involvement with the Navy at Ford Island where it is developing infrastructure and housing of a similar scale to that anticipated for the UHWO campus.

"The Regents‘ action marks a critical milestone in the university‘s plan to use a public-private partnership to respond to the growing higher education needs of the West Oʻahu region, and indeed of the state as a whole. I‘m delighted," said UH Interim President David McClain.

WOCD‘s design team is led by EDAW, Inc. for master planning, Group 70 International for architectural design, and Belt Collins for civil engineering design and landscape architecture. The construction team consists of Flintridge Partners as construction managers and Fluor as general contractor.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the state of Hawaiʻi and for higher education in general," said UH West Oʻahu Chancellor Gene Awakuni. "Our vision is to make the new West Oʻahu campus a fully integrated center of higher education that not only makes everyone feel welcome, but that inspires the entire community to embark on a path of life-long learning. We will work closely with the community every step of the way to ensure the new campus is a welcome addition to West Oʻahu."

The project scope is to master plan and develop the 500-acre UHWO campus site in Kapolei. The development is focused around the university campus with a complementary mix of residential, commercial, retail and mixed use facilities to create a well-planned community to support the long term growth of the campus.

Selection and approval of the developer for the UHWO campus project is the first in a series of forthcoming steps toward the development of the campus.