Hula’s Bar to move
Star-Bulletin staff
to Waikiki GrandHula's Bar & Lei Stand, a Kuhio Avenue landmark in Waikiki for nearly 24 years, will be moving to the second floor of the Waikiki Grand Hotel at 134 Kapahulu Ave. on Sept. 1.
"It will have over 70 feet of opening windows, with views of the ocean, Kapiolani Park and Diamond Head," said Jack Law, Hula's owner. "It is only a very short walk from Queen's Surf Beach."
Hula's will take the space once used by the Zen restaurant which served Japanese food in the mid-1980s before it closed. The restaurant space has been vacant since then.
The Magoon Estate, Hula's former landowner, sold the Kuhio property to Waikiki Promenade Partners LLC, a development group headed by Duncan MacNaughton.
MacNaughton is joining with the adjacent landowner, Honu Group Inc., and developer Tom Applegate in a partnership for a 200,000-square-foot shopping and entertainment complex.
Hula's was told by landowner, Waikiki Promenade Partners LLC, to leave the Kuhio location by July 19, which also happens to be Hula's 24th anniversary, Law said.
Management of the gay bar tried to get an extension until Sept. 1. At the same time, Law is looking for a temporary location until the Waikiki Grand Hotel site is ready.
MacNaughton and Applegate said that after a meeting with Law yesterday the move day was extended to July 21.
The developers expect all of the tenants on their properties to be off the land by July 21, and are continuing discussions with the city on relocating the police station nearby. MacNaughton also said the developers would like to offer the police department space in the completed project.
Others slated to move are Keo's Restaurant, which opened a new restaurant two blocks away a few months ago, a parking-lot operator and some kiosks, MacNaughton said.
He also announced that the old Canlis restaurant will be demolished and replaced with an open plaza on the corner.
The large banyan tree on the corner of Kuhio Avenue and Kalaimoku Street will remain as part of the new development, he said.
The developers hope to start clearing the property by late August.
