PBS Hawaiʻi Prepares for NEW HOME Construction

PBS Hawaiiʻ is preparing to begin construction on its NEW HOME on Nimitz Highway and Sand Island Access Road later this year, with completion in 2016.

Hawaiʻi’s only public television station has begun the process of selecting a general contractor. One will be chosen this summer.

The station has been successful in raising $22 million to renovate and expand the existing one-story structure at the former KFVE Newsplex site. PBS Hawaiʻi owns the property.

PBS Hawaiʻi is actively fundraising with a goal of $30 million and thanks individuals, foundations, businesses and government for their support. A complete list of donors can be found on online at PBSHawaii.org/newhome.

For 49 years, the nonprofit station has operated out of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The station will be losing its lease, as UH seeks more instruction space.

“All of us at PBS Hawaiʻi are so excited to get underway with work on our NEW HOME,” said PBS Hawaiʻi Board Chair Robbie Alm. “We still have lots to do, and more funds to raise, to realize the dream of a PBS Hawaiʻi for a new century, but it is great to be officially underway.”

PBS Hawaiʻi’s two-story Clarence T.C. Ching Campus will house a main television studio; an emergency broadcast center; and a Media Innovation Center, which will serve Hawaii’s students through the station’s flagship statewide student news initiative, HIKI NŌ.

Throughout the NEW HOME, PBS Hawaiʻi will acknowledge those who are enabling PBS Hawaiʻi to serve future generations of Islanders.