Hawaii Pharmacy School Building Construction to Begin Soon

A pharmacy school facility for the University of Hawaii at Hilo College of Pharmacy will finally be built this summer.

Even though the pharmacy school has existed since 2007, and a groundbreaking ceremony was held in 2014, students have had to attend class at 5 different temporary sites, according to

Pacific Business News.

One of major obstacles has been money. Although the university was awarded state-approved funds for a new school, the construction bids came in too high.

Lawmakers had set aside $28 million in bonds, plus the university was expected to raise another $5 million,

The Hawaii Tribune-Herald

reported. However, the university needed to use the money before it expired on June 30, 2016, and it still needed to raise $5 million more before the construction.

When the bids for the project came in too high last fall, the university had to consider factors like putting the project out to bid again, making changes to the construction plans, or seeking private funding.

The lowest bid was around $32.5 million,

Pacific Business News

reported in April 2016.

Since then, the university has rearranged its research laboratories into teaching laboratories and also added $1.3 million more to its funds to cover the project, school spokesman Dan Meisenzahl told

Pacific Business News.

Isemoto Contracting Co. and the university settled on a $31.3 million contract, which had previously been for $32.6 million.

“We’re happy that the project is going to be underway, barring any unforeseen hurdles,” Meisenzahl told

Pacific Business News

. Hopefully, class can start in the fall of 2018.”

The construction of the 45,000-square-foot building is expected to start in June 2016.