Brigham Young University–Hawaii has locked in a $96.3 million building permit that clears the way to tear down a chunk of its aging campus heart and replace it with five new buildings, including classrooms, a welcome center, administration offices, an auditorium and a conference center. The signoff is the first major regulatory checkpoint for a multi-year overhaul of the Laie campus.
According to Pacific Business News, the permit, approved March 15, 2026, covers demolition, site work and the initial construction package. It follows earlier planning submissions and signals that on-the-ground work is expected to ramp up this year.
What the permit covers
Project details posted by BYU–Hawaii describe the McKay Building Replacement as a sweeping redo of the campus core. The plans call for removing the David O. McKay Classroom Building, the Aloha Center and portions of the Joseph F. Smith Library, then replacing them with five interconnected structures that will house classrooms, faculty and administrative offices, conference rooms and student services.
The university’s construction pages lay out renderings, phased demolition schedules and technical specs, including gross square footage and site work estimates, giving students and staff a preview of what is coming as the bulldozers move through the historic center of campus.
The overhaul was approved by the university’s Board of Trustees and marked with a groundbreaking in August 2025, according to university leaders. Church News reported that officials framed the project as an investment in student learning and emphasized that there is no plan to raise the campus student cap.
Legacy elements and local reaction
The decision to take down parts of the McKay complex has stirred debate over how much of the campus’s visual history can or should be preserved, especially a long-standing David O. McKay mosaic at the building’s entrance.
The Salt Lake Tribune reported that a university spokesperson said preserving the mosaic intact would be prohibitively expensive. Instead, the school plans to salvage significant portions and display them in the new welcome center, a compromise that attempts to balance nostalgia with construction realities.
Timeline and next steps
Construction updates from BYU–Hawaii note that demolition of Flag Circle and the front portion of the McKay Building is already complete. Crews are working through grading, utility work and phased site preparation as the campus core steadily turns into an active construction zone.
With the permit now in hand, the university expects to advance construction in stages over the next several years, opening new facilities as individual sections are finished. The approval effectively turns years of planning into concrete, steel and fresh landscaping while keeping the campus at its existing permitted enrollment and reshaping the physical heart of Laie’s university hub.
For continued coverage of the project, see Pacific Business News and ongoing updates from BYU–Hawaii.
