Governor Josh Green, M.D.

Residences for Graduate Students
The University of Hawai‘i is just about a year away from completing its second successful Public-Private-Partnership (P3) to build modern student housing facilities on the UH Mānoa campus with zero taxpayer dollars. Construction on the $170 million Residences for Graduate Students facility began in October 2023 and is scheduled to be completed in fall 2025.

The facility consists of two buildings (18 stories and 12 stories) with 316 units containing 550 beds for graduate students, junior faculty and undergraduate students. It will include a childcare facility, retail spaces, study rooms and a café. The facility is being built on the mauka (mountain) side of Dole Street between the East-West Center and Mānoa stream.

“In Hawai‘i, we hear a lot about P3s,” said UH Vice President for Budget and Finance/CFO Kalbert Young at an October 10 groundbreaking ceremony. “I think we can take a sense of pride in recognizing that we are talking about groundbreaking on the second public-private partnership at the University of Hawai‘i in less than three years.”

 

RISE Success
The first P3, the $70 million Walter Dods, Jr. Residences for Innovative Student Entrepreneurs (RISE) Center opened in August 2023 at UH Mānoa. The six-story, student entrepreneurship and innovation center is home to 374 students and is operated by the Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship at the UH Mānoa Shidler College of Business. It features maker spaces where students have exclusive access to 3D printers, laser cutters, tools, sewing machines, project workspaces, and more to bring their ideas to life.

The facility is located on the site of the former Atherton YMCA on the corner of University Avenue and Metcalf Street. It was named after former First Hawaiian Bank Chairman Walter A. Dods Jr., who donated $5 million to the program.

RISE is fully funded with private, non-taxpayer money. For the Residences for Graduate Students, UH provided out-of-tuition monies, $8 million for pre-development and pre-construction work, and will provide $2 million a year for rent abatement to keep rents affordable for the duration of the 45-year property lease.