DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM
Festivities on Jan. 28 celebrated the opening of the Navy Lodge on Ford Island. Navy Lodges are small hotels open to defense personnel and their families.
Ford Island’s new lodge
has military families
happy to visitThe accommodations in Pearl Harbor
are part of a $500 million renovation project
Retired Col. Michael Mattia, a former Army dentist, and his wife like to travel and always stay on military bases because it makes them feel safe.
Among the military facilities that Mattia and his wife, Maria, depend on are Navy Lodges -- small hotels on Navy bases open only to members of the military, active and reserve, their families, retirees and public health service and Department of Defense personnel on official orders.
Mattia, a Vietnam veteran, said he and his wife have stayed at least a half-dozen times at Navy Lodges and liked the one in New York City at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island. "You can take the ferry and in no time you are in downtown Manhattan," Mattia said.
"All of them are conveniently located near large cities. The rates are reasonable. The security on military installations are of primary importance to us. We always feel safe and secure for ourselves and our possessions."
There weren't any in the islands, so the Mattias, who visit here several times a year, have used the guest quarters at Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe, Bellows Air Station or even the bachelor officer quarters at Pearl Harbor and Hickam Air Force Base.
But recently, the Mattias checked into Pearl Harbor's new $22 million Navy Lodge on the north end of Ford Island in the middle of Pearl Harbor and by luck found themselves participating in the formal opening festivities.
DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM
Chris Curnan and Dick Ardona of Navy Exchange Hawaii tried the rocking chairs on the veranda. Fifty-five of the Navy Lodge's rooms are located in Building 78, which was built in 1941. Care was taken during the building's renovation to maintain the site's original design.
The lodge joins 41 others throughout the mainland and in six other countries.
Mike Cottrell, district and general manager of Navy Exchange Hawaii, which runs the hotel, said at one time a site at the Pearl Harbor marina was considered for a Navy Lodge. "But it turned out to be too costly," Cottrell said.
At the Jan. 28 grand opening, Rear Adm. Barry McCullough, Navy Region Hawaii commander, said 55 of the rooms are in Building 78, which is part of the Pearl Harbor National Historic Landmark. That building was designed by architect C.W. Dickey and built in 1941, serving as an emergency medical treatment center during the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack. It was used as Navy bachelor quarters until 1984.
"It was restored to the 1940-era architecture," McCullough said. The new wing of the Navy Lodge, which houses 95 units, maintains that historical character, he added.
All 150 rooms are air conditioned and have satellite television, a DVD/CD player, direct-dial telephones and kitchenette with a microwave and utensils. Prices range from $80 a night for a room with a single bed to $100 for suites.
McCullough said locating the Navy Lodge in Pearl Harbor has helped newly arrived military personnel who are awaiting base housing. This is far better than housing newly relocated sailors and their families in Waikiki hotels, the admiral said.
Mike Bockelman, Navy Lodge director, said there are now 3,000 rooms available worldwide since the program was started in 1969.
He said, however, that the Navy Lodge system is more than just rooms.
"A lot of people come back to us because of the guest services," he said.
Karen Roark, who has worked as a front desk clerk at the Schofield Inn and Pearl Harbor's Lockwood Hall for the past seven years, agreed it's the service that counts.
Roark, a military dependent, said she knows what it's like living in the military.
"I've been there and done that," said Roark. "When guests check in, I know I can help them. I try to make their stay more comfortable. You get to meet so many different people working the front desk. It's so diversified. It's like having a family -- military family -- all over the world."
In her job she has had all sorts of requests.
"One person had just gotten an award," Roark said, "and couldn't pack it into his suitcase. So, I just mailed it for him. There was another person who had just checked in and needed an aloha shirt for a function that night. So I just lent him my husband's aloha shirt. I don't think my husband even knew."
The Navy Lodge is a small part of a $500 million renovation project planned for Ford Island. The Navy plans a development with a maximum of 420 family housing units, bachelor enlisted quarters for 1,000 personnel, 190,000 square feet of office space for 1,500 additional employees and a training complex under a public/private partnership.
