The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands unveiled a conceptual plan for a new business park in the Pana‘ewa area of Hilo at a community meeting Tuesday in Keaukaha.

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The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands unveiled a conceptual plan for a new business park in the Pana‘ewa area of Hilo at a community meeting Tuesday in Keaukaha.

DHHL, the state agency tasked with returning Native Hawaiians to historic home lands, has plans to develop approximately 334 acres in Pana‘ewa along Elama Road over the next five years and recently awarded 400 leases to Native Hawaiian beneficiaries for residential lots at the site.

The business park would sit on approximately 146 acres of nearby land along Railroad Avenue, across from the existing commercial center where Home Depot is located, which is also on DHHL land and borders existing agricultural homesteads.

DHHL Land Agent Andrew Sante presented the proposed project at the meeting. According to the preliminary plans, the business park would include six development areas with lots of various sizes for commercial, retail and industrial use that would be leased through DHHL, generating revenue for the agency.

“We would like to use this revenue that comes from our non-homestead lands to support our homesteading program,” Sante said. “That is to support our beneficiaries as well as build new homesteads for those on the waitlist.”

He said that the location had been identified as a potential site for a business park through previous regional planning meetings as a way to help achieve this goal and provide other benefits to DHHL beneficiaries.

“So, why a business park?” he said at the meeting. “We have four reasons. So one, and what I shared earlier, lease revenue that could support our homestead programs. Two, jobs close to home for both Pana‘ewa and Keaukaha, and room for beneficiary Hawaii Island businesses to grow, and most importantly for me, to make sure that more spending and more jobs stay on Hawaii Island.”

He emphasized that the plans are still in the early phases and open to community feedback.

“Anything conceptual in this meeting is still ongoing. Nothing is final,” he said “This is more of a start of the conversation and not the end. So, we’ll be coming back for sure to talk to you folks as the development goes by.”

Kahana Albinio, acting administrator for DHHL’s Land Management Division, said spaces in the complex would likely be ready for leasing in 2031 or 2032.

Several attendees at the meeting asked if priority at the site would be given to Native Hawaiian businesses and if preference for jobs at the park would go to local Keaukaha and Pana‘ewa beneficiaries.

Albinio said that is something the department was interested in exploring but could not make any promises at this point.

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“We’d like to make that opportunity for homesteaders, of course,” he said. “But I know, as a state agency, again, as our trust mission is to help homesteaders, we want to try to impress that upon developers and try to get some type of assistance with them, trying to attract our homesteaders first. I’m not going to guarantee anything, but we want to try and do that, work with the developers that come forward in developing this project.”

Several acres in the southwest corner of the lot have been reserved for the construction of a multipurpose community building by the Keaukaha Pana‘ewa Farmers Association.

KPFA President Maile Lu‘uwai spoke at the meeting to provide an update about the status of the project, which has been in the works for several years.

“In January, we should be able to finish our architectural engineering plans, construction documents in March of next year, April we gonna submit our permit applications, and then we’re going to do RFP for contractors to come in, and then we’re hoping to start construction in September or October of next year, and then complete construction by December 2028,” she said.

The building will include an event space, offices, classrooms and a lanai. She said there are also plans for a second building with a conference center, commercial kitchen and showers, but funding is still needed to make it a reality.

Sante also provided a brief update on the status of the Pana‘ewa residential development. He said that master planning and the regulatory compliance work had begun for the project, but that it would likely be a long process.

“The homestead master planning started in fall 2026,” he said. “It’s being funded through (the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act), which is federal funds for Native Hawaiian housing, and because we are using federal funds, the process is a little bit more lengthy. We have to do compliance items on both federal and state regulations.”

He said assessments of traffic impacts, wastewater options and invasive species management were also underway. DHHL has previously said the housing development would be ready for occupancy by 2031. The recent lease awards marked the first time residential lots were made available in East Hawaii in over 20 years.

The development is part of broader recent efforts by DHHL to shorten the waitlist for homestead leases across the islands. The agency currently has a list of nearly 30,000 people awaiting a lease. Many have been on the list for decades, including an attendee at Tuesday’s meeting.

“Watching this presentation about commercial development, it’s great. But 78 years old. I’m on the waitlist since 1986. I want my lot,” she said to a round of applause from other attendees. “So, I’m really concerned. So, when I come to these presentations, I hope that you guys can give us an update of how many people were given lots or loans, and how long they have been waiting on the list.”

DHHL Information Specialist Michael Lowe said that more information about residential lots and leases would be discussed at upcoming meetings of the Hawaiian Homes Commission in Hilo on Oct. 19 and 20, and an informational presentation about East Hawaii homestead lots would be provided at a community meeting at 6:30 pm. on Oct. 19.

For more information about upcoming DHHL meetings, visit dhhl.hawaii.gov/meetings/.

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Email Grace Inez Adams at [email protected]