Park Shore buyer may spend $20M on upgrades
The Waikiki hotel sold last week to Japanese company Sasada
The Park Shore Waikiki hotel was sold last week for $57 million to a Japanese firm, which plans to invest up to $20 million to upgrade the aging property.
The Blackstone Group, a New York-based private investment fund, sold the 226-room hotel to Sasada International LLC on July 11.
Blackstone put the leasehold property, at the corner of Kalakaua and Kapahulu avenues across from the Honolulu Zoo, up for sale in January after it failed to extend a long-term ground lease on the land owned by the Cunha Trust.
The hotel, which has fewer than 100 employees, will continue to be managed by Blackstone's LXR Luxury Resorts & Hotels brand, said general manager Geoff Graf.
The new owner also will carry out renovation plans set by LXR before the sale as well as others, he added. Total renovation costs are estimated at $20 million.
The mid-priced hotel, built in 1968, last year fetched an average room rate of about $125 per night.
After renovations to transform the hotel into a luxury boutique property, average room rates are expected to reach about $300 per night.
The hotel's anchor tenants include Lulu's Surf Club Waikiki Beach, Starbucks and an ABC Store, which have long-term leases with the hotel.
This is the first Hawaii hotel purchase for Sasada International, which is owned by Japanese businessman Mas-anori Sasada, who also owns 46 percent of Relo Group, a relocation and fringe benefits outsourcing business.
Ken Tsuji, vice president of Sasada subsidiary Hawaiian Relocation Inc., said the Park Shore is the first of 20 to 25 hotels Sasada wants to purchase around the world in coming years.
John Ford, Blackstone's spokesman, declined to comment on the sale.
Blackstone, which also owns the Wailea Beach Marriott Resort & Spa on Maui and Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa on the Big Island, inherited the Park Shore hotel when it acquired Wyndham International Inc. in 2005.