
He is a genial, intelligent guy, but determined to make Merrill do the heavy interview lifting.

Not pictured, Alan Hinahara, who is Merrill’s boss, and also accompanied us. My guide for the tour was Merrill Naira of Hawaiian Dredging Co., the project contractor, whom you can see here.

Project publicist Barbara Tanabe hadn’t meant to join me on the 41st floor, where they’re pouring concrete and there are no walls and lots of wind, but curiosity got the better of her, and she took this photo, in which you can HawaiiNewsNow cameraman Paul Omengcar, foreground right, and me way in the back doing a standup. You’ve got to go where the story is, and for me the story was more than 400 feet up in the air, where, at least this week, one can find the top of the building that will be called 801 South Street Tower One.
