Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 11, Number 5, 1 Mei 1994 — Hāna marketplace gets go-ahead [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hāna marketplace gets go-ahead

by Patrick Johnston A $1.36 million grant from the U.S. Eeonomie Development Administration for the building of the Hāna Village Marketplace was approved last month, opening the door for construction to begin on the 3 l-unit commercial center. The marketplace is the brainchild of Bill Chang, president of the Hāna-based eeonomie development organization Hina Malailena. He has spent the past six years working with county, state and federal offices to start up the project. Shops in the complex will sell a variety of locally produced items including lau hala products, feather lei, Hawaiian quilts, and koa wood products. One of the buildings will serve as a seafood restaurant. The market is designed to promote loeal artisans and businesses in an environment that reflects the rural lifestyle and cultural heritage of Hāna.

"We want to use locally made products," says Bill Chang, president of Hina Malailena, the organization behind the project. "But where we ean work it out we'll include others from around the state. A lot depends on the retailers." The marketplace will be a village concept with clusters of kiosk-type buildings, eaeh about 256 square feet. Structures will be wooden, with shingle roofs, rock wall terracing and landscaping. Explains Chang, "The landscaping is going to feature plants that are endemic to Hawai'i. What we're going to do is have a self-guided tour describing the plants and how they are grown." Chang, who ran a small art gallery with his wife in Hāna before getting involved in the marketplace, says the marketplace groundbreaking should be in July and, if all goes as planned, it will have its grand opening in June 1995.

OHA Eeonomie Development officer Linda Colbum hopes the project will be groundbreaking in other ways. "The difference between this and other types of development is that the eommunity becomes the developer. This is important because the eommunity has different types of values and priorities than a foreign developer. ... In a project like this the money is returned to the community and the project is more responsive to their needs. ... This is quite a major occurrence for a community of this size." OHA has been with the project since 1992, providing technical assistance in putting together grant applications for the Eeonomie Development Administration. An important part of OHA's efforts includes underwriting the project, effectively acting as a partner.

Moael of Hana Vmage Marketplace

"The EDA requires a co-applicant for this type of project, and they prefer that it be a government agency," says OHA continued on page 9

Hāna Village Marketplace

Eeonomie Specialist Chris van Bergeijk, who has worked closely with Hina Malailena on the marketplace. "By agreeing to be the co-applicant, OHA provided the necessary guarantee to see that the EDA accepted the application." Since its creation, Hina Malailena has also received support from the Administration for Native Americans, Maui county, and, recently, the Department of Business Eeonomie Development and Tourism. The new federal grant will be joined by a $250,000 contribution from Maui county and a

$90,000 low-interest loan from OFIA. The market will initially create 52 jobs, an additional 21 within two years, and is expected to generate $675,000 in private investment. It will rely heavily on the half-million overland visitors that annually eome to Hāna. "Based on our (loeal) populahon we would not be able to support the marketplace," says Chang. "If it weren't for the visitor industry there would be would be no marketplace." For information on the project eall Bill Chang in Maui at 248-7485 or OHA at 594-1988.