Ground was broken last November for the Hawaii Island Portuguese Chamber of Commerce Cultural and Educational Center.
Eight months later, construction on the long-envisioned center at the corner of Ponahawai and Komohana streets in Hilo has yet to commence.
But Marlene Hapai, president and executive director of the center, remains upbeat.
“We’re working with the architect. We’re working with an excavation contractor. We’re working with a landscaper. I think that soon we can begin the site work,” Hapai told the Tribune-Herald.
Hapai said she received good news Wednesday regarding the center, which has run into delays such as the coronavirus pandemic and financing problems.
“I got an email from the state saying that they’re transferring our award to DAGS, or Department of General Services,” Hapai said. “So, we did get the last $200,000 grant.
“We were hoping for $400,000, but if anything, this will replace the (grant) we lost during COVID, so it’s still a gain.”
The lost funding Hapai referred to was a $200,000 grant-in-aid in 2018 she said the state allowed to lapse when the pandemic hit in 2020.
In addition to the new $200,000 grant, the center is being funded by a $1 million grant-in-aid the group received in 2016, plus more than $300,000 from fundraising and $150,000 in capital improvement money released in November 2021 by then-Gov. David Ige.
“We’re still shy about $300,000 of where we wanted to be. … So, now, we’re waiting for our house to sell that was gifted to us.” Hapai said.
The home is a property in Pahoa village willed to the center by the late Theresa Perreira Zendejas. Hapai said they’re hoping to sell the property for “at least $300,000.”
The land was donated for the center in 2016 by Frank DeLuz III, a former County Council member. DeLuz died in 2020 at age 86.
Plans have been scaled back at least twice since the beginning of the project, but according to Hapai, the additional $200,000 plus proceeds from the still-to-be-sold home will put the center’s founders in “a good situation.”
“It’s going to be about 3,000 square feet under roof. Some of that square footage is the outside part of the roof. But we can do various exhibits and activities right under the roof — outside as well as inside,” she said.
Hapai, a retired academic who was instrumental in the creation of ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center and served as ‘Imiloa’s first executive director, said she’s learned a great deal about nonprofit community startups and the patience required to see the project to fruition.
“With ‘Imiloa, literally we started with zero,” Hapai said. “And in 1993, three of us wrote the first $3 million grant. And it didn’t open until 2006. When you start with nothing, it takes time. But I’m hanging in there, and so are a lot of other people.”
To keep the costs down, some services are being donated, such as those of the architect, Blaze Caldeira.
The center is nonprofit, and all donations are fully tax deductible. Anyone wanting to make a donation can or mail a contribution to: HIPCC Cultural and Educational Center, P.O. Box 1120, Hilo, HI 96721.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
