County completes purchase of Hawaiian Telcom building

Maui County has completed the purchase of the Hawaiian Telcom building in Wailuku and two other properties in Central and West Maui, the county announced Thursday.

The $3.8 million acquisition of the Hawaiian Telcom building aims to provide more space for the Maui Emergency Management Agency — which has been operating in cramped quarters in the county building basement — and information technology workers. The county also said Thursday that the purchase would make public service more readily accessible at the Kalana O Maui campus in Wailuku while saving the county on rent in the long term.

“This acquisition will provide the much-needed space for our information technology services and an emergency operating center more conducive to responding to public emergencies,” Mayor Michael Victorino said in a news release.

Department of Finance Director Scott Teruya said the debt service for the purchase of the Hawaiian Telcom property is expected to be offset by the reduction of leased office space.

“By moving non-customeroriented operations to this newly acquired property, the county has the ability to relocate departments that provide direct customer service to the public,” Teruya said.

The county also closed on the purchase of two other properties for Department of Environmental Management projects, including the $1.7 million purchase of 59.3 acres to expand the Central Maui Landfill from 208 acres to 267.3 acres.

Another purchase of 5.1 acres for $599,000 will be used as a water reservoir at Honokowai for water storage capacity to expand and pressurize the county’s recycled water system in West Maui.

About 0.7 acre of the Honokowai property is occupied by a private solar farm with a 20-year lease until June 2032. The county paid a discounted price on the remaining lease fees to acquire the solar farm license from the property owner.

County spokesman Brian Perry did not have further information Thursday on the solar farm acquisition.