Church plans 200-room hotel
to serve Oahu North Shore
The Mormon church plans to build a 200-room hotel in Laie aimed at visitors to Oahu's North Shore, the church-run Polynesian Cultural Center and Brigham Young University-Hawaii campus.
The hotel -- the only one on Oahu's Windward coast -- will be built directly adjacent to the cultural center on the site of the existing 48-room Laie Inn, which will be torn down.
"So many activities on the North Shore are largely untapped because there is nowhere to stay," said Eric Marler, executive vice president and chief financial officer with Hawaii Reserves Inc. The company manages property in Laie affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and will develop the hotel.
"The PCC has 800,000 visitors annually. Between that and the university, we feel a family-friendly, mid-market product will succeed," Marler said.
The hotel could cost as much as $30 million. More exact budgets are still to be worked out, Marler said, and will depend partly on the eventual size of the hotel. Initially, around 130 rooms would be built. Another 70 would be constructed if the first phase performs well.
Construction is expected to start in mid-2005 after building permits are obtained, Marler said, with completion targeted for 2007.
The hotel would be the first built on Oahu since the Hilton Hawaiian Village's Kalia Tower was completed in 2001 and is intended as a complement to the Turtle Bay Resort's accommodations on the tip of the North Shore.
"It's definitely needed," said Les Enderton, executive director of the Oahu Visitors Bureau. "The North Shore is becoming an increasingly popular destination, particularly with the TV show 'North Shore' and recent surfing movies."
Marler said the hotel would feature a pool, restaurant, retail outlet, banquet facility and a visitor information center focusing on Laie and North Shore activities.
In keeping with Mormon practice, he said the hotel would likely not serve alcohol or feature other things objectionable to the church.