Honululu Bio Hub Gains Momentum

Hawaii's Kamehameha Schools, a 120-year-old school system created to educate people of Hawaiian ancestry, and the owner of some $6.2 billion in assets, particularly some 365,000 acres of Hawaii real estate as the state's largest private landowner, recently named the Santa Monica, Calif.-based KUD International unit of Tokyo's Kajima Corp., and Phase 3 Properties of San Diego to develop a 400,000-square-foot life sciences research complex on the Honululu waterfront.

The project is expected to take 18 to 20 months to complete once construction begins, possibly in late 2006, a spokesman for the school system told the Star Bulletin newspaper of Honululu.

The development will be located near the University of Hawaii's John A. Burns School of Medicine, which was dedicated in January. The construction is part of a plan to create a biomedical hub and revitalize the Kakaako area.

Phase 3 Properties has developed, leased and managed biotech lab facilities including the San Diego Science Center in California, the Patriot Science Center in North Carolina and Nexus Canyon Science Park in Seattle. KUD helped develop the Burns School of Medicine facilities and has done projects in development, construction and financing globally.

Kamehameha Schools also recently said it was putting aside some $30 million for a new Hawaii-targeted venture fund that will invest in tech and life sciences companies to support its life sciences complex.

Meantime, the University of Hawaii Angel Investment network is seeking to create a venture capital fund with an entry investment of $25,000 – a sum that might attract a larger group of investors, according to an article in the Pacific Business News.