The state’s first veteran-focused senior living center remains on track to open next year after years of fundraising and preparation.
Work on the Hale Na Koa ‘O Hanakahi housing project began last November on a 5.6-acre lot on Kawili Street across from the University of Hawaii at Hilo campus, and will offer 92 single-bedroom units of affordable housing for Big Island seniors, with a preference toward veterans and their spouses.
Michael Doolittle, board chair of Hawaii Island Veterans Memorial, the project’s primary partner, said construction on the project is well underway and seems on track to be move-in-ready by next June or July.
“I’ve heard no word that we’re off-schedule so far,” Doolittle said. “Everything seems to be running smoothly.”
Interested tenants likely will be able to sign up for a unit about two or three months before opening, Doolittle said.
When Hale Na Koa ‘O Hanakahi is completed, it will include four two-story buildings with 92 units total, a 157-stall parking lot, a community center, coffee bar, fitness room, laundry facilities and more.
What the project will not include on the move-in date is a medical clinic, however. Doolittle said the housing project was always planned with the expectation that an outpatient clinic would be built on an adjacent site, and that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs would be a partner agency.
But the VA dropped out of the project after finding the site too small, Doolittle said, leaving HIVM with a parcel of land with permits in place for a medical clinic, but no financial partner to build one.
“We’re just looking for an end user who’s able to raise the money to build it,” Doolittle said, estimating that clinic would cost about $18 million to $20 million.
“We’re not going to be able to pay for that ourselves,” he said.
Doolittle said HIVM is discussing the clinic with various potential partners, but said he “wouldn’t hazard a guess” how long it might take to finalize a partnership. However, he noted that the main housing project — which cost $58 million from various sources including bonds and state loans — took more than a decade to become anything more than paper.
While prospective tenants cannot yet apply for a unit, they can visit eahhousing.org/hilo to sign up for notifications about the project and check eligibility requirements.
To qualify for a unit, applicants must be 62 years old or over and earning between 30% and 80% of the Area Median Income.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
