An expected national television audience of 17 million watched one of Hawai'i's biggest feel-good stories of the year last night as the season premiere of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" featured the rebuilding of a learning center and home in Kalihi Valley.

What isn't widely known about the project, however, is how a potential stumbling block was turned into a blessing.

Jeffrey Prostor, president of Brookfield Homes Hawai'i, partnered with 300 other companies and 3,000 volunteers to design and build the 4,500-square-foot learning center for nonprofit Keiki O Ka 'Aina Preschool Inc., and a 3,500-square-foot home for Theresa "Momi" Akana and her family in June. He and Akana talked about how the new lo'i or taro patch on the property came to be last night before the start of an air-date party hosted by Prostor's company at Ala Moana Hotel's Hibiscus Ballroom.

Prostor said that at 2:30 a.m. on the third day of the project, he was standing in the middle of a freshwater spring. It was David Hulihe'e, president of Royal Contracting Co., who came up with the suggestion to utilize the water by building a lo'i, resolving a problem that could have set the project back, said Prostor.

"Nobody has mentioned this story ... but what a blessing from God to have this water to be able to build this lo'i," Akana said.

"When they went in and tore down all the buildings, they uncovered this freshwater spring," she said. "It was underneath all the buildings, and that's why we had a problem with dampness and mold."

John Miller, 46, was among the 500 people who attended the air-date party, which featured a special DVD showing of behind-the-scenes moments not seen on the regular broadcast.

"I think we're all pretty blessed, so I like to give back to the community," said Miller, 46, a partner in Innovative Home Electronics Design, which installed video and audio equipment.

Miller, who moved to Hawai'i two years ago from Mountain View, Calif., and worked almost every day on the Kalihi Valley project, said he normally gives away one day a year on worthy home-building projects. "Momi's real cool, and this project benefits really nice people," Miller said.

The "Extreme Makeover" experience has given national exposure to Keiki O Ka 'Aina, a nonprofit established in 1996, dedicated to serving the educational needs of the Native Hawaiian community.

Akana, Keiki O Ka 'Aina's executive director, said she received a call at about 2 p.m. yesterday, after the "Extreme Makeover" show had aired on the East Coast, from a potential donor.

"The best part of this whole thing," Akana said, "is all the incredible friends and connections we've made in the community. Big business people who would never speak to us, and we would never dream to call, are talking to us."

For example, Akana said, a local tour company plans to include the learning center as one of its regular stops.

"For us, it means an opportunity to sell leis and fruits," Akana said.

Devon DeAngelo, 16, one of the original Keiki O Ka 'Aina students, is impressed with all the new "techie stuff" the makeover brought, but said there's one thing that hasn't changed since June.

"They're living humbly," Devon said of the Akana family. "They went from basically having nothing to having everything without losing the meaning of the place. They're still the same people."

"Extreme Makeover" representatives who attended last night's showing at the hotel said they were not authorized to talk about the production. Prostor is prohibited from commenting on any cost factor, but he and Scott Underwood, Brookfield Home Hawai'i vice president of operations, estimated the project used close to 500 yards of concrete and 100,000 feet of lumber.

Of the state attorney general's tax division investigation into the lease agreement between Akana and Keiki O Ka 'Aina, which owns the land beneath Akana's new home, she said, "We're still working on it with the AG."

This summer, the attorney general's tax division began asking questions about the lease arrangement between Akana and Keiki O Ka 'Aina.

Keiki O Ka 'Aina spokeswoman Kanoe Naone has said that the organization is working with the attorney general's office to come up with a lease agreement in which the rents are set at market rates.

Under state and federal laws, terms of the lease must be at market rates or they could be considered "a private benefit," which could result in significant fines for a nonprofit organization.

According to Naone, the attorney general's inquiries were in response to a July 2 story in The Advertiser that reported Akana earned more than $100,000 in a year, while her husband is in a position at a local bank that typically pays more than $125,000 a year.

Keiki O Ka 'Aina officials previously said that Akana's compensation was comparable to that of heads of similar nonprofits, and that Akana's pay had been below market levels for several years.

The nonprofit's supporters also said Akana was selected for a home makeover because of Keiki O Ka 'Aina's broad impact on the local community.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.