Hawaii Wins Big at the 25th Annual NAIOP 2022 Kukulu Hale Awards
The NAIOP Kukulu Hale Awards recognize excellence in Hawaii’s commercial real estate industry. On May 6, it was announced that two Swinerton projects were the recipient of these prestigious awards. Solomon Elementary was awarded the Public/Government Project Award and The Queen Emma took home the Renovation Award for Commercial/Other over 40,000 Square Feet.
“NAIOP Hawaii has served as the state’s foremost association of development industry leaders and decision-makers since 1988,” said Jennifer Camp, 2022 board president in a Hawaii Business Magazine article. “Our annual Kukulu Hale Awards are an opportunity for us to recognize excellence within our industry – and put on a fun event, too!
Swinerton Hawaii’s NAIOP Kukulu Hale Awards Winning Projects
Solomon Elementary School
Located on Schofield Barracks Army base, the new school provides an innovative model for learning, with 21st century technological innovation as the centerpiece of its design. The campus modernization totaled 114,600 square feet spread across four new buildings. It includes 63 classrooms, a student support center, a library, two computer labs, an audio/video room, a covered play yard, a cafeteria, and administrative offices. Supporting site improvements included new entrance driveways and the addition of over 170 parking stalls. Construction was divided into four phases to allow for active use of the existing campus facilities, while phasing in new buildings for use as they were completed.
The project was funded through a grant from the Department of Defense Office of Economic Adjustment; remaining project funds were provided by the State Department of Education.
“Completing construction on an active school campus is a challenge for any project team. It was impressive how the team phased construction by building a new classroom building on the existing play field, then later demolished the existing buildings to construct a new play field. The incorporation of colorful walkways to help provide circulation patterns was also refreshing.” Jurors’ Comment
The Queen Emma
After sitting abandoned for over 15 years, The Queen Emma office building was originally built in 1964. Affectionately coined the “Pimple Building,” the adaptive reuse transformed the 12-story midrise into 68 affordable rental housing units. These newly constructed studio, one-, and two-bedroom apartments offer modernized layouts with an assortment of contemporary amenities. Common area spaces and administrative offices were also modernized.
The scope of work included demolition and abatement; seismic and structural upgrades; installation of two new elevators; electrical upgrades and new transformers; additional MEP buildout; fire/life safety upgrades; new interior finishes; and ADA upgrades. Swinerton also provided preconstruction services. This is the third affordable housing project Swinerton has completed in Hawaii since 2018. Additionally, this is the third accolade for this project. The others include the 2021 GCA Grand Award – Best Overall and the 2021 GCA Award of Excellence – Renovation/Remodeling.
Kudos to the Solomon Elementary School and Queen Emma project teams!
“Hats off to the team for completing this difficult renovation with zero laydown space. It was impressive that the team was able to convert the former office building into a new affordable housing apartment. An exceptional award entry because of the successful and creative transformation of the project despite challenges and adversity” Jurors’ Comment
This is the second award that our Queen Emma project has been awarded since its completion. In 2021, the project won GCA Build Hawaii Awards Grand Prize.
