$43.6M makeover to start at Blaisdell

The Neal S. Blaisdell Center has started a $43.6 million renovation project requiring temporary closures to portions of the site through next year.

The city’s nearly 60-year-old prime venue for live concerts and sporting events, graduations and hula competitions, Broadway shows and exhibitions of all sorts, began renovations in February to address health, safety and deferred maintenance concerns. The work will provide new lighting and electrical systems, new fire sprinklers, roofing and air conditioning, among other upgrades.

Construction projects are slated for the arena, concert hall, exhibition hall and the Hawaii Suites meeting rooms. Of those, the concert hall will likely be shuttered for a full year. According to the city, events that cannot be held at Blaisdell Center during renovations may be held at other venues such as the Waikiki Shell.

Blaisdell Center, at 777 Ward Ave., formerly called the Hawaii International Center, was built in 1964.

“The revitalization of the Blaisdell Center’s facilities is necessary and cannot be delayed,” Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi said in a written statement. “We ask for the public’s patience and understanding as we launch an improvement initiative to ensure this special place is maintained so we can continue to house a diversity of events and create new long-lasting memories going forward.”

According to the city, the $43.6 million for the project was appropriated via the city’s capital improvement projects, which are managed by the city’s Department of Design and Construction. The project’s architectural and engineering work is headed up by Honolulu-based consultants, Pacific Architects Inc. and WCIT Architecture.

John Condrey, the city’s project manager, said about six years was spent preparing a master plan for the major renovation of Blaisdell Center. That plan — done largely under former Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s administration — initially pegged the cost to renovate the 22-acre entertainment site at approximately $400 million. A subsequent draft environmental impact statement saw that cost rise to about $773 million, as it involved the demolition of the center’s arena, exhibition hall and parking garage.

In 2020, the Caldwell administration halted the Blaisdell renovation, due in part to the rising cost of the city’s rail line project.

“When it was clear that wasn’t going forward…that’s when we constructed this quick budget,” said Condrey, noting Department of Design and Construction staffers took steps to advance the Blaisdell renovation but at a reduced cost. “These guys put their heads together and said ‘this is the bare minimum, this is what we have to do to make the campus work for the next 20 years’.”

Condrey said a major part of that concentrated work will focus on replacing aging fire sprinkler systems throughout the facility and inside the concert hall, which can seat more than 2,100 people per show. “Those systems are all failing,” he added, “so it’s critical infrastructure.”

In addition, the arena — which can accommodate up to 8,800 patrons per event — will receive structural upgrades. It will also see new safety railings, larger perimeter doors, renovated public restrooms (to include the addition of family restrooms), and renovated performers’ dressing rooms as well as electrical work including energy-­efficient LED house lighting components, the city says.

The arena’s anticipated closure dates will be from May to November .

Renovation of the exhibition hall will include replacement of air-handling units, roof improvements and the complete renovation of the Hawaii Suites — a dozen 22-by-30-foot breakout meeting rooms on the first floor of the hall — as well as upgrades to telecommunication infrastructure, and renovations to the concession kitchen.

The anticipated closure of the exhibition hall will run from July to August , while the Hawaii Suites are expected to be closed from April to October , the city says.

Concert hall improvements will tackle the above-stage performance grid structure, repair areas of spalling concrete, replace exterior roofing, replace cooling towers for air conditioning, provide fire system and electrical upgrades and back-of-house renovations, including new dressing rooms for visiting performers.

The concert hall’s anticipated closure dates will run from July 2023 to June 30, 2024, the city says.

Campuswide improvements to public areas are also scheduled. This work will include walkway lighting upgrades, paving of deteriorated areas of the parking lot, adding a telecommunication infrastructure and a new trash compactor facility. These projects, the city says, will not require the full closure of any facilities but may affect access to portions of the campus.

Mary Lewis, the events and services administrator for Blaisdell Center, said the city has “lots of ideas” on how to improve and maintain the site for many years to come.

“Because it is home to so many people,” Lewis said during a news conference inside the concert hall on Wednesday afternoon. “And even if they come for one event it really does make a lasting memory and we want to support that.”

For more information about the project, visit blaisdellcenter.com or email blaisdellinfo@honolulu.gov.