Honolulu Marine shipyard moving foward with moving out of Kakaako

Bill Cresenzo

Reporter- Pacific Business News

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A permit hearing is scheduled next month for Honolulu Marine, which for at least seven years has worked to move its shipyard from land now owned by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs on the Kakaako waterfront to a location at Keehi Lagoon beside the Keehi Marine Center on Sand Island Access Road.

The small ship maker said in 2007 that was planning to move to the 2.2 acre spot by 2009, and it received a shoreline setback variance permit from the City and County of Honolulu.

However, the project stalled and the permit expired after two years, said Mark Taylor, land use planner for the City and County of Honolulu.

Honolulu Marine had been looking to move since 2005. The shipyard has been at its current 103,597-square-foot water front for more than a century. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs, which owns the land, wants to redevelop it.

According to the original draft environmental assessment published in 2007, Honolulu Marine wanted to start building on the new site in early 2008 and finish within a year. It planned to spend $10 million — $5.5 million on land development, $2.9 million on a floating dry dock, and $1.6 million on a two-story building.

The vacant plot on the lagoon is owned by the state of Hawaii.

The permit hearing is slated for 10:30 a.m. Nov. 19 in the Mission Memorial Building at 550 S. King St.

Honolulu Marine is also trying to secure a conservation use permit from the state of Hawaii, Taylor said.

Officials with Honolulu Marine did not immediately return a call for comment.

Bill Cresenzo covers residential real estate, retail and restaurants for Pacific Business News.