The Department of the Navy is starting the process of handing back nearly 44 acres of federal property to the state of Hawaiʻi, covering a parcel at Kalaeloa on Oʻahu and a training support facility on Molokaʻi. Gov. Josh Green announced the move, which includes a 31.693-acre parcel at Kalaeloa that already houses warehouses and support facilities the state uses for film and television production, along with a 12-acre Marine Corps training support facility at Hoʻolehua.
A Handback Years in the Making
As reported by Maui Now, the Navy has committed to a transparent, collaborative process with open communication with the state as it works through the return. Green called the announcement a meaningful step, saying it reflects what officials have heard from communities across the state: that when federal lands are no longer needed, they should be returned. He also encouraged every military branch to review its holdings in Hawaiʻi and identify other properties no longer essential to its mission that could similarly come back to state hands.
Bringing the Kalaeloa parcel into state ownership would let Hawaiʻi maintain and expand its use for film, television, digital media and creative-industry workforce development, according to the same report. The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism's Creative Industries Division plans to keep using the property as production infrastructure going forward. The Navy has also framed the effort through its Military and Community Relations Office, which works to strengthen collaboration among state, military and community partners.
No Firm Transfer Date Yet
Despite the announcement, the state and the Navy have not set final transfer dates, per the report. Officials say the two sides will develop parcel-specific timelines, and the federal government will retain ownership and control of both properties until required environmental reviews, due diligence, documentation and approvals are completed. For the Molokaʻi property, Hawaiʻi's administration says it will work with community stakeholders and appropriate state agencies to determine the parcel's future stewardship and use once it returns.
That environmental due-diligence process has tripped up land transfers in Kalaeloa before. In June 2024, the Hawaiʻi Community Development Authority rejected a separate proposed transfer of more than 200 acres from the Navy in the same district, citing liability concerns over environmental cleanup costs and unexploded ordnance in a contaminated pond, according to Hawaiʻi Public Radio. That same month, the Navy did successfully convey roughly 400 acres of former Barbers Point Naval Air Station land to the City and County of Honolulu for park and recreational use, closing out a conveyance request first initiated back in 1999, per the Office of the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu.
Infrastructure Already Taking Shape
The Kalaeloa Community Development District, overseen by the Hawaiʻi Community Development Authority since 2002, covers roughly 3,700 acres of the former Barbers Point Naval Air Station, which closed in 1999 under the federal Base Realignment and Closure program. Utility upgrades are already underway there: in December 2024, the Navy partnered with the authority under the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act to provide $18 million toward modernizing Kalaeloa's 1930s-era electrical grid and connecting facilities, including state film production infrastructure, to the Hawaiian Electric grid, according to the Hawaiʻi Community Development Authority.
Lawmakers had already been pushing on the studio issue before this announcement. In March, the Hawaiʻi House of Representatives introduced House Resolution 28, urging the Navy to waive rent charges for the state's use of the Kalaeloa Film Studio land and facilities and to enter into a long-term lease, according to LegiScan.
Part of a Bigger Land Debate
The Molokaʻi return echoes a prior handback: in January 2023, the U.S. Air Force returned 363 acres of leased land in Hoʻolehua and Pālāʻau to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands after a 25-year communications lease expired, the Office of the Governor noted at the time.
The 44-acre return also lands amid a much larger reckoning over the military's footprint statewide. State leases signed in 1964, which let the military use nearly 30,000 acres of state land for a total of $1, are set to expire in August 2029, according to Honolulu Civil Beat. Green signed a statement of principles with Army Secretary Dan Driscoll last September to explore land use arrangements balancing national security needs with state priorities like housing and land returns. That broader debate was also the focus of a statewide summit on military leases held in March at the Ala Moana Hotel, and regulatory friction has continued elsewhere too — in mid-2025, the state Board of Land and Natural Resources rejected the Army's final environmental impact statements for training lands on Oʻahu and Hawaiʻi Island, citing unresolved unexploded ordnance cleanup and cultural site protection concerns, per the state's Engage Hawaiʻi portal.
