Conveniently situated at the major intersection of Keeaumoku and Beretania streets, the Hale Pawaa medical office building derives its name from and pays respect to the original name of the region in which it is located, Pawaa. Its central locale is within a mile of several of Hawaii’s largest and busiest healthcare facilities, including Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children, Kaiser Permanente, Straub Clinic & Hospital and The Queen’s Medical Center.
Developer and owner Healthcare Realty Trust Inc. of Nashville, Tenn. says Hale Pawaa provides the “ideal office space that fits your business needs, whatever they may be.” The professional suites can be designed to accommodate everything from a 500-square-foot laboratory to a 10,000-square-foot surgery suite, and everything in between.
Structural Details
Built by general contractor Kiewit Building Group, Inc. Hale Pawaa consists of a nine-story, 137-foot tall office structure with 127,000 square feet of leasable space and an adjacent nine-level, 410-stall parking structure. Kiewit began the $55 million, design-build project in January 2008, with completion in April 2010. Architects Hawaii, Ltd. is the architect.
The office tower was constructed of structural steel framing with concrete metal decks and an exterior enclosure consisting of stone veneer cladding, stucco and glazing, according to Dee Oswald, project manager for Kiewit. The parking facility, which can be accessed from Young Street at the corner of Young and Keeaumoku, is a concrete structure comprised of post-tensioned deck slabs.
“The exterior cladding on the first three levels of the building is comprised of a stone veneer panel system,” says Oswald, discussing construction challenges. “While the system has been used on the mainland for the past 20 years, it was the first installation in Hawaii. This unique lightweight system allowed us to incorporate a natural stone look to the building exterior without increasing the size of the structural steel framing.”
Another challenge stemmed from the overall footprint of the project, which took up most of the lot. “There was very minimal laydown area to store materials and schedule deliveries,” she says. “Because of this condition the project was phased, so the office tower was constructed first, allowing the structural steel to be staged on the footprint of the garage structure for erection.”
Precautions and constant awareness also were needed to ensure the safety of the pedestrians and motorists in the vicinity, continues Oswald, “and extensive planning and communication were key factors when performing the complex operation of dismantling the 200-foot tall tower crane over this intersection in early January.”
For the Team
Overall, the Hale Pawaa project was a good one for Kiewit Building Group.
“(Our) crews self-performed the concrete formwork, placement and finishing for the pile caps, grade beams, slab on grade, tower core shaft, slab on metal deck, garage post-tensioned decks, beams and columns,” says Oswald. “The local union laborers, operators, carpenters and masons worked over 85,000 man-hours combined during the course of the project. “(As) safety was a daily priority for our company as well as for our subcontractors, our crews worked over 850 days without a recordable or lost time accident.”
Oswald emphasizes, “Zero accidents, a quality project and a satisfied client
— the construction of the Hale Pawaa
medical office building was a success- ful project for Kiewit. The two-year endeavor enabled us to maintain a working craft force during a time
when a lot of craftspeople were being
laid off. These foremen and crafts-people gained valuable experience during the construction of the post-tensioned garage structure while maintaining a stellar safety performance. We will look to carry this experience with us as we pursue similar vertical construction projects.”
