Ground Breaking Held for Future Hilo Adult Day Center Site

Ground broke on Monday, Feb. 2 for the future home of the Hilo Adult Day Center by the Hawai’i Island Community Development Corporation and Hawai’i Island Adult Care, Inc.

Funding, which has been secured over the past two legislative sessions, has totaled $1.385 million for the project.

The infrastructure road and utility work for the project will be provided through a Grant-in-Aid from the Hawai’i State Legislature and the County of Hawai’i Community Development Block Grant program.

Matson Foundation, Cooke Foundation Limited, LGA Family Foundation, Hawai’i Electric Light Company/HEI Charitable Foundation, and numerous individual donors have committed to additional funding to aid in the construction of the new facility.

The new building will begin construction once fundraising efforts have been completed.

At the current time, the HIAC Hilo Adult Day Center operates in the old Hilo Hospital on Rainbow Drive. Built in 1924, the structure has proved to be inadequate to serve the current and future needs of the Day Center.

Alternatives to the current location have been a long time coming. The HIAC Board of Directors say that the project is picking up momentum, as plans for the new facility have been drawn.

Hilo Adult Day Center’s future home is adjacent to the Mohouli Heights Senior Neighborhood project, a 60-unit senior housing project. The HICDC developed the Mohouli Heights Senior Neighborhood project and it represents the eventual 15.9 acre complex that holds the ability to host 90 more housing units.

The State of Hawai’i conveyed the 15.9 acre site to the County of Hawai’i by Executive Order in 2008, with the purpose of developing a senior housing complex and related uses. In 2009,the county leased the site to HICDC. HICDC later secured necessary funding commitments in 2011.