War Memorial Stadium headed for yearlong closure in 2024-25 | News, Sports, Jobs

The Maui High School band plays during a Maui Interscholastic League football game against Baldwin at War Memorial Stadium on Aug. 26. The stadium is expected to close for a year starting in May 2024 for repairs. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

WAILUKU — Phase 1 of War Memorial Stadium’s renovation that closed it down for seven months — from Oct. 1, 2022 until late April — is complete and the facility is currently open for public use.

It will remain that way for the next 11 months, but then it will close down for a year — from May 2024 to May 2025 — as phase 2 of the renovations take place.

That news came from Maui County Parks and Recreation Director Pat McCall, who sat down for a wide-ranging, exclusive interview with The Maui News on Wednesday in a conference room near his office in the War Memorial Gym building.

Maui Interscholastic League athletic directors were informed of the news Wednesday morning in a meeting with county officials.

“The stadium, from a project point of view, right now phase 1 is complete,” McCall said. “That encompassed the redoing of the track, fixing up of the Paia (parking lot) side bleachers — the railings up above had all rotted through, several of the bleachers themselves needed to be fixed.

A “Do Not Enter” sign is posted in front of the aluminum bleachers at War Memorial Stadium on Wednesday afternoon. The bleachers, which have been deemed structurally unsafe due to rust, will be renovated during the stadium’s closure that starts next year. The Maui News / ROBERT COLLIAS photo

“So, all of that was done in the last phase. They did a phenomenal job on the track. It looks great and is operating well, correct drainage was finally put in, so we’re happy about that.”

McCall added that the work is not done at War Memorial Stadium, which was opened for the MIL championship track and field meet in late April and the Island Movers/HHSAA State Track and Field Championships May 5-6.

Aluminum bleachers that were added for Hula Bowl Maui in 1998 in the stadium’s end zones are closed and will be a large part of the second phase of renovations.

“It is now open to the public and will be until June of ’24,” McCall said. “We’re open for football and soccer and track for the year, but the only part of the stadium that will remain closed are the aluminum bleachers. I call them the Hula Bowl memorial bleachers. Those were deemed to be structurally unsound by an engineer and part of the damage, obviously, is rust. … We’re close to the ocean.

“We have it open to the public and, you know, all the signage is up and do not go into those bleachers. The aluminum bleachers, they’re not for use and we’re asking the public that uses the track to stay out of lanes 1 and 2. The regular walking on those lanes or just daily jogging is what wears down those lanes and ends up causing uneven wear.”

McCall

McCall said that the repair of the end zone bleachers would return the seating capacity to approximately 15,000 — making it the largest outdoor stadium in the state — and could open the possibility of hosting a University of Hawaii football game, spring practice or scrimmage in the future.

Hawaii beat Montana 30-12 on Sept. 8, 2001, at War Memorial when current UH head coach Timmy Chang was the quarterback and the recorded crowd was 12,863.

UH coaches recently expressed interest in playing here and Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen and Hawaii Gov. Josh Green both were enthusiastic about the possibility when they talked with The Maui News in January.

“If they’re ever interested in coming over this way … but we’d like to get that stadium back up,” McCall said. “When we close it down for phase 2 that will be a one-year closure and phase 2 will incorporate some changes to sound, we will replace the scoreboard — we need a new scoreboard — completing more concrete work on both bleachers because that stadium was built in ’71, ’72, somewhere around there.”

McCall said that the plan to close the stadium for a full year does not come easily, but is absolutely necessary.

The War Memorial Stadium scoreboard is pictured Wednesday. A new scoreboard is planned to be installed during the stadium’s upcoming renovations. The Maui News / ROBERT COLLIAS photo

“It would be a year — it’s open now, (but) will close after graduations (for Baldwin and Maui high schools) at the end of May (2024),” he said. “Right now we’re projected for a year and the MIL was informed the moment we found out, the moment we had everything in place. I let (MIL executive director) Joe Balangitao and Desiree Sides know, our (state department of education) complex superintendent.”

McCall said that the goal is to have 2025 graduations for Baldwin and Maui High in the stadium, though that could not be promised.

“Going forward, the hard part is you have a projected start date — when you project you’re projecting permits being approved, construction supplies arriving (on time), the sub-contractors accepting the work under the main contractors and staying with it,” he said. “The mayor’s office is really working hard on it and a big part of it is manpower. … Projects don’t always necessarily start or end on time.”

McCall said that once the work is turned over to the contractors, the stadium must be closed completely.

“The county is a self-insured entity, so our facilities come under us,” McCall said. “When we turn over a construction site it becomes the contractor’s insurance company and they determine the access and unless we have it written into the contract, which makes the contract go much higher (in cost), we have to abide by their instructions. So, they have restricted access to the stadium like we had for this past year, which we know upset a lot of track people.”

Saint Louis School boys track coach Alika Fonseca said that having the state track meet here was an important dimension to the Hawaii track and field community. Saint Louis narrowly won the boys state team title, 64-62, over perennial power Punahou in the WMS facility that was packed for the occasion.

“You never expect that kind of stuff to happen,” Fonseca said moments after the state meet ended May 6. “When a lot of kids come together in a venue like this, crazy things happen. And it’s not just for us at Saint Louis, but just the entire track program in general in the entire state, to get that credibility in a place like this is important.”

War Memorial Gym is also scheduled to start an 18-month major renovation phase in August.

“This facility, most noticeable for most people, we’re going to enclose the front end, but will be replacing the floor, the bleachers, the windows, there will be changes to all the steelwork in the ceiling because this will become a hurricane shelter,” McCall said of War Memorial Gym. “We’re going to redo the locker rooms, all of that, the bleachers.

“In addition to the facelift and whatnot, but a lot of reinforcement work to make it hurricane shelter certified, which entails a lot of things like anchoring the Baldwin (High School) portables (classrooms) so they don’t fly into the building — some things like that. That is an 18-month project and it will be shut down for the duration.”

McCall added, “Everyone wants the facilities to look beautiful, but no one wants them closed for construction work to occur. Or they want 24/7 construction work so that the project gets, you know, finished in a shorter time.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com

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