Bids accepted for new county service center

$25 million facility would replace Maui Mall site

Maui County began accepting construction bids Tuesday for the $25 million Maui County Service Center in the Alexander & Baldwin Maui Business Park II in Puunene/Kahului.

The new service center will house the county property tax and motor vehicle divisions and the Finance Department now in the Maui Mall Service Center. The environmental assessment for the project in 2016 said that the new center also would include the Transportation and Housing and Human Concerns departments and the building, electrical and plumbing inspection sections.

Bids for the project will be accepted until 2 p.m. Aug. 29.

Groundbreaking is expected in November, according to county Managing Director Keith Regan on Tuesday. Construction is expected to take 18 months, which would put completion in 2020, he said.

That is a year later than noted in the environmental assessment, though Regan did not mention any particular issues slowing down the project.

The new service center will be located at the corner of Hookele and Alaihi streets with access from Alaihi Street. The proposed two-story building will have 60,000 square feet on the 4-acre site with 360 parking stalls for 200 workers, fleet vehicles and visitors, the environmental assessment said.

By comparison, the Maui Mall Service Center with the motor vehicle and property tax divisions and the Finance Department is 17,000 square feet.

The departments and divisions to be added currently are in leased spaces -- the Transportation Department in the David K. Trask Building in Wailuku, the Housing and Human Concerns Department in One Main Plaza and 35 Lunalilo St. in Wailuku, and the Development Services Administration (building, electrical and plumbing inspection sections) at 86 W. Kamehameha Ave. in Kahului.

A major reason for the new service center touted by Mayor Alan Arakawa was to eliminate lease rents, which cost the county a total of $2.5 million a year, the environmental assessment said. The move also was necessitated by the owners of the Maui Mall informing the county that the service center was not in their future plans. Mall owners and the county have since agreed to lease extensions.

The county finalized the purchase of the site from A&B for $7.1 million in November 2014. The deal also included 30 acres of beachfront property in Paia -- between Baldwin Beach and Lower Paia parks.

The County Council included $25 million for the service center in last fiscal year's budget.

* Lee Imada can be reached at leeimada@mauinews.com.