Groundbreaking for a Hilo housing facility for veterans and their spouses has been delayed.
A 92-unit housing project on Kawili Street across from the University of Hawaii at Hilo has been planned for well over 10 years. The project will target “middle-income” seniors with annual incomes up to about $45,000, with preference given to veterans or spouses of deceased veterans.
Project chairman Bob Williams last spring said he hoped groundbreaking would take place between June and September. But on Friday, he said the start date is “now looking like November, maybe.”
Williams said the delay is a result of the wide array of funding sources for the project. He said that there is about $48 million tied up in the project from various entities, and that closing the deals with each of those entities has taken longer than expected.
“We’ve got private money, taxpayer money, donor money, grant money, (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) money,” Williams said.
“We’d love dearly to start construction as soon as possible,” Williams went on. “But we’re just disillusioned by how long it’s been dragged out.”
The full complex will consist of four two-story buildings on the 5.6 acre lot, each with their own elevator and laundry facility. A fifth building will include a fitness room and other communal facilities. Earlier in the year, Williams estimated construction would take about two years to complete.
Despite the delay, the Board of Land and Natural Resources approved on Friday a minor change to the lease for the project, which Williams called a procedural matter.
In addition to the housing facility, Williams said an outpatient medical clinic that would be located adjacent to the site is facing its own complications. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which had been a partner in the project, has dropped out.
Williams said the clinic will still be built, and has received interest from the The Queen’s Health System and Big Island Docs.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
