The P3 industry has raised concerns over the financing of the planned integrated P3 for the New Aloha Stadium & Entertainment District project in Hawaii, recently published feedback has revealed.
According to the market sounding report on the New Aloha Stadium & Entertainment District (NASED) project, there is “in general” market interest in the scheme - despite the various false starts that the procurement has faced.
“However, this is strongly qualified or abated by significant concerns regarding the Project’s financial feasibility,” the report added, stating that an updated financial analysis should be finalized as a priority.
The report also suggested that the market sounding generally confirmed that the approach to procuring the project “weighs in favor of using a progressive procurement process”. As a result, it urged the state to further define what this approach would look like.
However, one potential difficulty facing the project is the “limited number of service providers” that are capable and willing to perform the role of the stadium operator, the report warned. This issue has echoes of the original procurement, when it was decided that the deal should be split into separate procurements for the stadium and real estate portions. In that instance, it was initially decided that the three shortlisted bidders would focus on the stadium, while a second procurement was subsequently let for the remaining real estate section.
Last year, both procurement were halted when state funds were allocated to the redevelopment plans, but in May this year, new governor Josh Green decided to launch a procurement under one integrated P3 for the whole site.