Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 8, 1 August 2006 — OHA's Moanalua purchase bid declined [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA's Moanalua purchase bid declined

By Sterling Kini Wnng Publicatinns Editnr On July 17, the Estate of Samuel Mills Damon rejected OHA's bid to purchase Moanalua Gardens, saying that it would instead accept a competing offer. But the estate requested that OHA submit a haekup offer in case the one it did select falls through. In May, OHA's Board of Trustees voted to tender an offer to the Damon Estate to buy the 26-acre site, worth an estimated $5.5 million. Through the purchase, the board intended to preserve the cultural and historical features of the garden while also securing a site with possible eeonomie development opportunities. In addition, it was suggested that OHA could build its proposed headquarters in the

gardens, instead of in Kaka'ako (see story above). The board has also expressed interest in acquiring the two valleys, Kamana Nui and Kamana Iki, that comprise what is eommonly known as Moanalua Valley. However, a group of state, federal and private agencies, in whieh OHA is not included, is currently working to purchase that 3,714-acre property. From as far back as the 1600s, Moanalua has been recognized as being a culturally significant plaee for hula. King Kamehameha V, Lot Kapuāiwa, owned the area and built a singlestory cottage that's still located at the gardens today. Kapuāiwa helped bring hula back to the forefront of Hawaiian society after it was banned by missionaries, and he named a hula

platform in the garden after his favorite kahu, Kama'ipu'upa'a. That platform is used today for the annual Prince Lot Hula Festival, the state's largest noncompetitive hula competition.

Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop eventually inherited the ahupua'a of Moanalua and bequeathed it to Samuel Mills Damon, a good friend of Pauahi and her husband,

banker Charles Reed Bishop. In 2004, the last grandchild of Damon died, thereby starting the dissolution of the estate and the distribution of all of its assets. S

Damon Estate rejected 0HA's bid to purchase the 26-acre AAoanalua Gardens, known for its grassy plains, monkeypod trees, stream, lo'i and historical sites. - Photo: Kazuhiko īeramoto