Construction of the Regency Hilo Rehabilitation and Nursing Center is now complete, but it could be another three months before the facility begins operations.
The $18.5 million, 100-bed skilled nursing facility will be operated by Washington state-based Regency South Inc., a subsidiary of long-term health care and senior housing provider Regency Pacific Inc. The 55,000-square-foot building broke ground in fall 2012 and originally was slated to open in summer 2013.
“We didn’t originally plan enough time to do the grading,” explained Los Angeles-based general contractor Joseph Pavon. “We thought it would take six months, but it actually took a year.”
During a Wednesday tour of the nursing center, Pavon said the volcanic rock at the site proved to be difficult to work with, and efforts to level off the ground slowed the whole project.
“This was really a challenge,” he said.
The building received its certificate of occupancy and completed construction last month, and administrators now are waiting on permits to begin operations.
Once the facility opens for business, which could be between 60 and 90 days, it will employ about 225 workers, Pavon said.
“That includes kitchen workers, nurses and maintenance workers,” he said.
The site sits on 17 acres makai of Kaumana Drive between Mohouli Street and Luana Way. There is an additional 3 acres of developable land that will be set aside for future development, according to a 2013 interview with David Straud, Regency’s then-development division president.
“We have enough ground there in the future to plan for future development,” he said.
Any additional construction might depend on water and sewer availability, Straud added.
“At present, the scope is limited to what we got,” he said.
Because no sewer accessibility in the area currently is available, the site operates with six large septic tanks with nearby leach fields, Pavon said.
Multiple phone calls and emails made during the past few months to Regency Pacific’s executive team seeking additional information about the nursing center have not been returned.
Wednesday’s tour of the facility revealed two nursing wings with spacious double- and single-occupancy rooms. In addition to central air-conditioning for the corridors, each room has its own air-conditioning unit so clients can control their own temperature and the building can save on energy costs when rooms are unoccupied.
That’s important for a facility expected to generate monthly power bills of between $18,000 and $20,000, Pavon said.
The building also features a rehab room outfitted with various exercise equipment and a railed staircase. There also are two dining rooms, a large kitchen, common areas and a central courtyard that will have multiple benches for seating.
The completion of the project has been a long time coming, with its original groundbreaking planned for 2010. Financing dried up after the recession hit, however, putting things on hold, Straud said.
Despite being the largest facility of its kind in Hawaii, according to Pavon, the project is considerably less ambitious than its original incarnation, which was envisioned as a $40 million facility, complete with 40 single-family cottages and a 60-bed assisted living facility.
Colin M. Stewart can be reached at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
