HILO, Hawai'i — The University of Hawai'i Board of Regents has selected an Atlanta-based partnership called Hawai'i Campus Developers to plan, finance and build two new college campuses on the Big Island.

In the first development arrangement of its kind for the university system, the partnership would also win the right to develop land adjoining the new campus for the Hawai'i Community College in Hilo and a West Hawai'i Campus Center planned in Kona, mauka of the airport at Keahole.

Hawai'i Community College Chancellor Rockne Freitas said there is no specific plan yet spelling out what the developer will contribute, or precisely what facilities Hawai'i Campus Developers will build on the two campuses.

However, Freitas said he believes the partnership will want to put commercial developments around both campuses, projects that would allow the partnership to recoup its costs.

The university system has not put any limits on what sort of commercial projects might emerge from the plan, but "we will have a lot to say about it, because we're going to be listening to the community as well," Freitas said. "No commitments have been made, at all."

Hawai'i Campus Developers, which was formed to compete for the university projects, includes Regent Partners and Aristos Partners, both of Atlanta, and is financed by Farallon Capital Management, Freitas said.

Kitty Lagareta, chairwoman of the Board of Regents, called the effort "a new approach for the regents and for the entire system, and it's a new approach nationally for getting things done."

The Hilo site is a 122-acre parcel on the corner of Komohana and Puainako streets, about a mile and a half west or mauka of the current 20-acre HCC campus. Freitas said he hopes the community college will also be able to claim 28 more acres nearby that have been earmarked for university expansion, bringing the total Komohana site to 150 acres.

A 2003 plan drafted for the university proposed spreading the new Komohana facilities across most of the 122 acres, but Freitas envisions compressing the campus into just a portion of that land, freeing up space for the private development that would, in effect, finance the new campus.

He said the community college still would have more than enough space. For example, Kapi'olani Community College on O'ahu takes up only 50 acres, he said.

State lawmakers this year set aside $18 million for planning and infrastructure such as roads, sewers and waterlines for the Komohana project, and Freitas said he hopes to use that money to kick-start the project. Ideally, the state money would pay for all of the infrastructure, leaving the developer to build the buildings.

The Kona site is 500 acres above the airport on state land next to the Hiluhilu development. The university hopes to share some infrastructure with Hiluhilu, and may rent space on the Hiluhilu site until the permanent Kona campus is ready.

University Center for West Hawai'i in Kona now operates from a small leased space in a Kealakekua shopping center.

University officials have talked about improvements on the two campuses that might total $100 million, but Freitas said there are no specifics yet on what facilities would be built.

However, in addition to classrooms and recreational facilities, university officials want faculty housing to attract quality staff to both campuses, and dormitories to ease a shortage of student housing, he said.

The next round of discussions with the developer will focus on an assessment of what the university system can expect the developer will build at each campus, and what sort of commercial or other projects the developer will need next to the campuses to make the whole effort profitable, he said.

It could take six months to a year to complete those negotiations and development agreements, and Freitas said he hopes to begin construction on both campuses in 18 months. The plan is to complete construction in five years, he said.

When the project is finished, Freitas said he expects the combined enrollment at both campuses would grow from about 1,600 today to 4,000 in the two years after the new facilities open.

Freitas said as the development plans become more detailed, there will be discussions with community groups in Hilo and Kona about the proposals for the new campuses and the private developments around them.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.