HILO, Hawaii – Construction on the $33 million building for the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy has begun.

Isemoto Contracting Co. was hard at work last week on South Aʻohōkū Street, bulldozing and clearing the way for the 45,000-square-foot building that officials hope will be completed in time for fall 2018 classes.

UH System president David Lassner mentioned the start of construction during a recent update to the UH Board of Regents.

The long awaited building will give students and teachers at DKICP a permanent home for the school which has been operating from temporary trailers next door to the site. It will also solidify their accreditation, school officials say. The lack of permanent facilities has been an issue in the eyes of accreditors, who will return for a site visit early next year.

Progress to this point has been slow. The project broke ground in December 2014 but took nearly another year to go out to bid.

Meanwhile, the University of Hawaii Board of Regents has approved the appointment of Carolyn Ma to be the second dean of DKICP. Ma has served as interim dean since Founding Dean John Pezzuto left UH Hilo in August 2015.