The City and County of Honolulu have hit a bump in process to issue a request for proposal (RFP). Initially, the RFP was supposed to be issued at the end of the year 2018. But due to state law that requires bidding entity to be licensed as a general contractor the project authority has modified the timeline.

Now according to the new schedule, the county will issue RFQ for the project in July 2019 and RFP in December 2019. This will give a fair chance to bidding entities to acquire the required license. Thus according to plan the concert hall, exhibition hall and arena at the Blaisdell Center will close in December 2020 to facilitate a construction period of two years.

The scope of work includes the renovation of the existing concert hall and arena on site, as well as demolition and reconstruction of the exhibition hall and parking structures. The new exhibition hall will span 95,000 square feet (8,800 square meters). Two parking garages are to be constructed, with a total 2,400 spaces. Additional venues will also be developed on site, including an arts pavilion and a sports pavilion with 2,000 to 2,500 seats.