The University of Hawai'i Board of Regents officially launched a search for the next president yesterday by authorizing the formation of a task group to head the search, with authority to hire an executive search firm.

The university hopes to fill the top spot for the 10-campus system by the beginning of classes next fall. Usually presidential searches take at least a year.

At the same special meeting, the regents approved Townsend Capital, headquartered in Baltimore, Md., for a construction partnership with the university to build Phase 2 of the John A. Burns School of Medicine.

Phase 2 consists of a research education building on 9.9 acres on the makai/diamondhead side of the medical school site in Kaka'ako. The building will include leasable space for private bioscience companies as well as additional space for the university for research.

Townsend Capital is the same company that was chosen in March to partner with the university to build a new Cancer Research Center of Hawai'i on 5.5 acres of land on the other side of the new medical school. The university still is negotiating with the Hawai'i Community Development Corp. for the land.

"We don't yet have an estimate of cost," said UH capital improvements director Jan Yokota, referring to Phase 2. "We will work with the developer to define what goes into the building and how much it will cost."

Yokota said that having leasable space for private bioscience companies "will add to the concept we have for the area" that includes having research and private companies close to a growing biotech community in the heart of Honolulu.

"The first phase (of the medical school) had funding," said Yokota. "This phase does not. So it will have to be a situation where both UH and private developers will have to pay lease rent to the developer to pay for the construction costs."

Yokota said there's no timeline yet for construction and no size set for the building.

All of that, along with cost, will be determined in negotiations with Townsend.

"At this point it was just selecting the developer," Yokota said.

Townsend was particularly attractive in a field of four finalists because of its experience in building these types of technical structures, and because there could be shared features with the cancer center because of the proximity of the two sites.

Meanwhile, in authorizing a presidential search, the regents are taking the next step to fill the position that will be vacated by interim president David McClain, who announced two weeks ago that he would not be a candidate for the presidency.

McClain has led the university since the ouster of former president Evan Dobelle in 2004.

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com.