An extended reach excavator began tearing into Snyder Hall on the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa campus on June 4, 2021, marking the start of demolition of the 59-year-old, 5-story building. The demolition of the building on iconic McCarthy Mall is scheduled to be complete in mid-July.
The former occupants of Snyder Hall were relocated to the $65-million Life Sciences Building located at the Diamond Head end of McCarthy Mall after it was opened in July 2020.
State lawmakers budgeted $70 million in the 2021 legislative session for a replacement building at the Snyder Hall location that will include flexible learning and office spaces that support modern methods of online delivery, collaboration and advising.
- Related UH News story: Eerie animal noises, world-class research part of Snyder Hall’s history, May 25, 2021
Snyder Hall is the first of four buildings (including Holmes Hall, Keller Hall, Kuykendall Hall) identified in the UH Mānoa Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) to be replaced or renovated because of age and condition. Another LRDP project, the $41-million renovation project to transform the Sinclair Library into a state-of-the-art student success center, is underway. LRDP completed projects include the demolition of Henke Hall in 2017 and construction of the Life Sciences Building at the Henke location.
The plan also calls for converting campus interior roads into pedestrian malls and permanently removing more than 50, one-story, wooden, portable buildings across the campus to create additional outdoor space.
This commitment to facilities improvement is an example of UH Mānoa’s goals of Enhancing Student Success (PDF), one of four goals identified in the 2015–25 Strategic Plan (PDF), updated in December 2020.
