Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie has released $1 million in capital improvement grants to the Pacific Gateway Center to transform the historic Kakaako Pumping Station into a community resource center that provides services for the elderly.

The Pacific Gateway Center, a nonprofit that provides services for low-income and other marginalized groups in Hawaii, plans to use the center to offer educational programming that pairs young people with kupuna.

“The Kakaako Pumping Station is the latest example of a facility that had fallen into disuse but now will be preserved and given the opportunity for a second life, providing area residents with a gathering place for kupuna and keiki as the community grows,” Abercrombie said in a statement.

In light of the area’s ongoing construction boom, Kakaako’s population — which was 10,673 as of the 2010 Census — is projected to double in the next several years, according to the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.