Chris B. Hemmeter

Star-Bulletin file photo
Developer Chris B. Hemmeter and his wife, Patsy,
for years were part of Hawaii's high society.

Grand developer
down but not out

By Peter Wagner
Star-Bulletin

HE blew into town, built an empire and lost it in New Orleans. Somewhere along the way, Chris Bagwell Hemmeter became an icon among Hawaii developers and set a new standard for lavish "fantasy" resorts.

His legacy in Hawaii, a mixed bag of opulence and elegance, includes the Hyatt Regency Waikiki, Hyatt Regency Waikoloa, Hyatt Regency Maui, Westin Maui, Westin Kauai, King's Alley in Waikiki and Hemmeter Corporation Center in downtown Honolulu.

Hemmeter was 22 and just out of Cornell University when he arrived in Hawaii in 1962 to become assistant manager at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. As a boy, he had turned a tidy profit selling Christmas cards and swimming lessons. He parlayed a $10,000 loan from his parents first into retail stores, then restaurants, before turning his energy to resort developments.

Hemmeter's high-flying fortunes began to plunge in 1995 with two Chapter 11 bankruptcies and a Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy filed in 1997, brought on by the failure of Mississippi gambling boats and an $800 million casino in New Orleans.

The personal bankruptcy, a liquidation now being closed in Los Angeles, showed $847,000 in assets and $87 million in debts.

"We bet the whole company on our project in New Orleans, based on the advice and counsel of the investment community and everybody else involved, and it didn't work out," he said Thursday from his Los Angeles home. "I guess that's what risk-takers do."

But Hemmeter, who turns 60 Monday, is hard to keep down. He and his son, Mark Hemmeter, are developing a $225 million hotel, lodge and casino in Black Hawk, Colo. "Jackpot Springs" is due to open in two years.