After more than 10 years of planning, a veterans center and senior housing complex in Hilo inched ever closer to completion Friday.
A 75-unit senior housing facility to be built on Kawili Street has been a longstanding project of Hawaii Island Veterans Memorial Inc., which partnered with nonprofit Hui Kauhale Inc. last year to help develop the project.
On Friday, the state Board of Land and Natural Resources approved a 65-year renewable land lease between Hawaii County and HKI Kawili LLC — a subsidiary of Hui Kauhale Inc. — for all three parcels on which the project will be built.
The approval of the lease precedes rezoning procedures that need to be completed before final building permits can be issued.
“It’s been in the pipeline for 10 years already,” said project chairman Bob Williams.
Initial site construction has been complete for nearly two years, with culverts, sewer hookups and a driveway already constructed. Williams said the project will present final building and engineering plans to the Hawaii County Planning Commission in October. Assuming those plans are approved, Williams said, the project can go forward. However, Williams said, obtaining the remainder of the funding necessary — which he said was approximately $10 million — will require time and paperwork, although he added that he would try to expedite the process as much as possible.
The project includes an affordable senior housing facility with preference given to veterans, as well as a veterans service center, located at the intersection of Kawili and Kapiolani streets. The facility also will include a community-based medical outpatient clinic on-site.
“It’s sort of a new industry for Hilo,” Williams said, explaining that the growing population of seniors in Hawaii County — colloquially referred to as “the silver tsunami” — has illuminated the need for more senior-dedicated housing developments.
While there are several other senior housing facilities in Hilo, only one other Hilo development is also specifically designed to serve the needs of veterans. That facility, the Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home, celebrated its 10th anniversary earlier this year.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com