La’i’ Ōpua 2020

• Developments
• Hawaii
• La’i’ Ōpua 2020

La’i’ Ōpua 2020, a Hawaiian nonprofit organization, used New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) financing to move forward with the first phase of its master plan. The financing will be used to acquire land, add infrastructure to a 26.5-acre site, and build a new 25,000-square-foot health care facility, located on designated Hawaiian Home Lands in a rural area of the Island of Hawaii.

To help close a funding gap and move construction forward, Pacific Growth Associates (PGA), a Honolulu-based economic development firm, and Travois New Markets, recently partnered to secure NMTCs for the project. The project could not pursue conventional financing, as Hawaiian Home Lands are held in trust by the state and cannot be used as collateral for conventional loans.

The infrastructure built with flexible, low-cost NMTC capital will allow for future phases of development, which will include the construction of a community center, preschool, gymnasium and aquatic center and social service complex and amphitheater.

The new health care facility, to be operated by the West Hawaii Community Health Center, will provide medical, dental, behavioral health, family planning, and health education services to the residents of the Kailua-Kona community, predominately Native Hawaiians.

These new community developments were planned and will be formed around Hawaiian cultural and spiritual values. Once complete, the complex will serve as the primary regional resource for the Native Hawaiian community living throughout the North Kona region. It will offer an array of programs and services to meet nearly every health, social, educational and recreational need.

This portion of the project is expected to create 159 construction jobs and 49 permanent jobs, and once complete, the health care facility is expected to serve 2,700 households annually. Construction is expected to be complete in January 2015.