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Tom Moffatt Waikīkī Shell
HONOLULU – The Tom Moffatt Waikīkī Shell will temporary close for facility upgrades from October 2024 until late March 2025, the City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Enterprise Services announced Thursday.
In 2020, Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) notified the City of plans to replace the existing electrical transformers that provide electrical power to the Tom Moffatt Waikīkī Shell with new pad mounted transformers. HECO also informed the City that the existing switchgear to distribute the electricity to the facility required replacement.
The City’s Department of Design and Construction (DDC) initiated design work in 2020, however project materials did not become available until 2023 due to the lingering effects of supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. DDC will be working in tandem with HECO throughout the closure period, overseeing a project to replace the switchgear and renovate the orchestra pit area fronting the stage at the Shell to improve drainage and provide additional space for movable seating or circulation.
The total construction cost for the upgrades is expected to be $453,255.
The image on the left shows HECO’s existing pole-top style transformers, and the image on the right shows the facility’s existing switchgear cabinet, which is estimated to be at least 35 years old.
“With the leadership, support and guidance of DDC Director Haku Milles, Deputy Director Mark Yonamine and their team of engineers, architects and project managers, we are able to maneuver these long awaited, and much needed construction upgrades to our facilities and original equipment,” said Department of Enterprise Services Director Dita Holifield. “Most importantly, this has allowed us to stagger venue closures of the 60-year-old Neal S. Blaisdell Center campus and the almost 70-year-old Tom Moffatt Waikīkī Shell, which has afforded us the ability to plan, in advance, and work with our tenants to continue to provide venues for live events and activities for the public without any total campus closures.”
To book an event, the public is encouraged to contact the Blaisdell Center at https://blaisdellcenter.com.
The following link provides the most current updates to our facility closure dates: https://blaisdellcenter.com/blaisdell-center-closures-for-construction/