PBS Hawaii breaks ground for new Kalihi home

HONOLULU – PBS Hawaii hosted a small groundbreaking ceremony Nov. 10 on the site of its future home at 315 Sand Island Access Road in Kalihi.

“This will be a 21st century building for a 21st century Hawaii,” said Leslie Wilcox, PBS Hawaii president and CEO. “Our team has spent a great deal of time on the technology design, which will further help us create, communicate and collaborate.”

Construction of The Clarence T.C. Ching Campus is expected to finish in early 2016. General contractor Allied Builders System is overseeing the project, with Group 70 International as architect. Allied will work with Atlanta-based media integration firm TI Broadcast Solutions Group for the project’s specialized technology aspects.

The existing one-story structure will be renovated and expanded to include a second story. It will house a main television studio, an emergency broadcast enter and a media innovation center for young journalists in the station’s flagship statewide student news initiative, HIKI NO.

In attendance for the ceremony were HIKI NO graduates Shisa Kahaunaele and Victoria Cuba, now both college students who said their lives have dramatically changed because of the community’s investment in HIKI NO, which promotes modern workforce and life skills.

“This [will be] a new home, a permanent home for PBS Hawaii to nurture more young people like myself,” Kahaunaele said.

The public television station, which is on an expiring lease with the University of Hawaii at Manoa, has successfully raised more than 75 percent of its $30 million capital campaign goal. PBS Hawaii continues to accept contributions online at pbshawaii.org/newhome or at 955-0500.

PBS Hawaii is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and Hawaii’s sole member of the Public Broadcasting Service.