Aloha Halawa District Partners (AHDP) is in line to secure the contract to deliver a new Aloha Stadium after meeting the deadline to enter its proposal for the project.
Hawai‘i’s Department of Accounting & General Services and the Stadium Authority have confirmed receipt of a proposal from the sole priority-listed offeror, AHDP, in response to the New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District (NASED) Request for Proposals (RFP), which was issued in December.
NASED received the proposal from AHDP in advance of the deadline on July 31. Hawai’i Governor Josh Green said: “AHDP’s timely proposal submittal kicks off the much-anticipated evaluation process to assess AHDP’s commitment and dedication to partner with the state and advance us towards a great new stadium, much-needed residential housing, and mixed-use transit-oriented development to revitalise the surrounding community.”
Aloha Stadium first opened in 1975, but has largely been closed for events since December 2020 due to chronic rust problems and deferred maintenance. The NASED plan has been in the works since 2018 and has undergone multiple changes during this time.
The current procurement process intends to provide for both the new Aloha Stadium and the surrounding district to be delivered jointly as one integrated public-private-partnership project.
AHDP appeared to be in the box seat for the contract in June after Waiola Development Partners dropped out of the running to become the lead developer of the NASED. This left only AHDP to construct a 25,000-seat venue plus the planned outlying housing and retail facilities on the 98-acre site of the old Aloha Stadium.
The Stadium Authority stated at the time that Waiola’s withdrawal would not affect construction timelines and that 2028 remained the opening target for the new stadium. The state’s established evaluation committee, with support by technical advisors, will now begin its review of the received proposal to determine if it complies with the RFP and demonstrates acceptable value for money to recommend AHDP as the preferred offeror for State Comptroller approval by September.
If the proposal does not meet the RFP evaluation criteria, the state has the right to terminate the procurement process and not award the project to any offeror. Should AHDP be recommended and approved for the NASED project, the state will then enter into a nine-month diligence and discussion phase with final execution of an agreement targeted for summer 2025.
Brennon Morioka, Stadium Authority chair, said: “Progress on the NASED project continues and the submission of AHDP’s proposal is an important step forward. We are very excited to review the key features of AHDP’s proposal such as the proposed stadium concept and how AHDP proposes to deliver the project’s vision of a larger district community.
“The RFP was designed to accommodate the possibility of having a single offeror, and AHDP’s proposal will now undergo a detailed review by the evaluation members.”
AHDP is a consortium comprising of:
- Development Ventures Group, Stanford Carr Development, Ameresco, and Aloha Stadium Community Development (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 and AECOM Hunt as the construction team.
- Castle & Cooke Hawai‘i and Wilson Okamoto Corporation as other team members.
