The first phase of the $170-million Residences for Graduate Students student housing facility at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa has been completed just weeks after the October 4 groundbreaking ceremony.
The demolition of a two-story office building, warehouse and other structures clears the way for the construction of the two buildings (18 and 12 stories) to house over 550 graduate students and their families, along with junior faculty members. The project will include a childcare facility, café retail space, study rooms and more.
Located on the ma uka (mountain) side of Dole Street between the East-West Center and Mānoa stream, the student housing facility is scheduled to open in fall 2025.
Loʻi mural
The fence around the construction site now features a massive mural inspired by Ka Papa Loʻi O Kānewai, the taro patch across the street at UH Mānoa Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge.
“I wanted to extend that loʻi right on up to this wall over here so we can have a conversation, a connection between these two places because all of these areas would have very likely been in taro cultivation,” said Native Hawaiian artist Solomon Enos, who painted the mural on October 21.
Enos also painted murals on construction fencing on the UH Mānoa campus for the Bachman Hall renovation project and the recently opened Residences for Innovative Student Entrepreneurs (RISE).
UH builds on P3 success
The modern housing facility is UH’s second major public-private partnership (P3) capital improvement project on the UH Mānoa campus, built by private partners with minimal or zero taxpayer or tuition monies. RISE, which opened in August 2023, was the first.
The Residences for Graduate Students project is being developed and will be managed by Greystar Real Estate Partners, which contracted Swinerton Builders for the construction.
Related UH News stories:
- New graduate student housing facility at Mānoa breaks ground, October 5, 2023
- New graduate student resident facility at UH Mānoa to begin construction, September 21, 2023
- Student housing project on UH Mānoa campus cleared for construction, April 20, 2023
