To the powers that be, the Aloha Stadium Authority's mere presence in Honolulu on the last Thursday of the month was an encouraging sign of progress.
Stadium Authority meetings are typically held on-site in Hālawa, but with dismantling of the old stadium underway in order to make room for construction of the new one, Beretania Street was the location on Thursday before temporary offices are installed in the Hālawa lot in February.
"This is the first time to my knowledge that a Stadium Authority meeting has been held off-site," Aloha Stadium interim manager Michael Yadao remarked at Thursday's meeting. "And that delineates and communicates progress. We're moving forward with the dismantling of Aloha Stadium, and we're moving forward with the building of a new Aloha Stadium and a new Aloha Stadium Entertainment District, and that this is a real, tangible sign of that movement forward."
A blessing for the new Stadium Authority district offices will be held on Feb. 17.
The New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District (NASED) and its developer, Aloha Hālawa District Partners (AHDP) signed a pair of key agreements in September: A stadium operation and development agreement, as well as its initial ground lease.
Three agreements between NASED and AHDP have yet to be signed: The master development agreement for the 98-acre area that doesn't involve the stadium itself, as well as the Reciprocal Easement Agreement (REA) and Reciprocal Easement Shared Infrastructure Agreement (RESIA) associated with it.
"These three agreements kind of get wrapped up together, and you can see how they interchange," Yadao says.
It is Yadao's hope that NASED and AHDP can agree in principle on the final three topics in early February, then have the involved lawyers draft the contract language around the time of the Feb. 17 blessing.
"I've asked them to speed it up to be done before the blessing," Yadao said. "But look, that's really ambitious. That's really me pushing."
During his address, Yadao reached into a box of manapua and pulled one out, paying tribute to the late Jim Leahey, one of Hawai‘i's most prominent sports broadcasters in his 40-plus years serving as the voice of University of Hawai‘i athletics.
"Jim Leahey made football personal. He made football local," Yadao said. "When a running back would (nearly) get that first down, he was just there. He was just this close. He was less than a yard away. Jim Leahey would say, 'He's a manapua away.'
"I'm telling you, we are a manapua away."
Thursday was Yadao's fist Stadium Authority meeting as Aloha Stadium's interim manager. He was voted in as the stadium's deputy manager in December's meeting after former interim manager Chris Sadayasu stepped down. Walter Thoemmes was unanimously voted in as the new chair.
In other Stadium Authority personnel changes, chair Eric Fujimoto stepped down during Thursday's meeting. He explained that he will still be on the board and involved, then became emotional as he expressed how much the stadium means to him as an ‘Aiea resident and University of Hawai‘i fan.
Dismantling of the old Aloha Stadium began under the basis of the two previous agreements and completion of the new 22,500-seat Aloha Stadium is still targeted for March 2026.
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
