Waikiki to get Outrigger Enterprises Inc. today announced a massive reconstruction and renovation project that will change the appearance of the heart of Waikiki, where the company operates half a dozen hotels.
face lift
3 hotels will be consolidated,
3 others replaced by
an open-air plazaBy Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.comThe $300 million reconstruction plan calls for the demolition of six old Outrigger-owned hotels in the area, replacing them with open gathering spaces, wider sidewalks and a single new high-rise 890-room hotel.
The overall plan, called Waikiki Beach Walk, encompasses 7.9 acres in the Lewers and Kalia streets area.
The work will be done in two phases. Phase one, to start in 2003, calls for replacing the Edgewater Lanais hotel, the Ohana Coral Seas and the Ohana Edgewater with a large open-air plaza including a retail entertainment complex designed to capture ambiance of old-time Waikiki. That $130 million phase, between Lewers Street and Beach Walk, should take 15 to 18 months.
Phase two, to start in 2006 at a cost of $170 million, will redevelop the block bordered by Saratoga Road, Beach Walk and Kalia Road. It includes replacing the Ohana Reef Lanai, the Ohana Royal Islander and the Malihini Hotel with the new hotel. Pedestrian bridges will connect the new hotel to the already-built entertainment center.
Outrigger officials told a news conference this morning, attended by Mayor Jeremy Harris and other officials, that the idea is to lessen congestion next to the street.
"This is more than brick and mortar," said David Carey, president and CEO of Outrigger Enterprises. "We are consciously moving building density away from the street to open up more sky, adding shade and palm trees, native vegetation and water features, and stressing the use of indigenous building materials."
The entire project, which has been in the planning stages for years, still must apply for a host of permits to proceed.
Outrigger said there will be no job losses during the reconstruction. Employees affected will be transferred in advance to other Outrigger and Ohana hotels as positions open, and any staff reduction will be handled through attrition.
The project: A $300 million Outrigger development on 7.9 acres in the heart of Waikiki Phase 1: 3 hotels will be replaced with an open-air plaza
Phase 2: 3 more hotels will be replaced with an 890-room hotel
Outrigger Enterprises, the family owned umbrella company for an international resort and real estate business that started from a single hotel developed by the late Roy C. Kelley more than 50 years ago, has been exploring redevelopment in the heart of Waikiki for several years. It was a prime backer of a push for a 4 percent income tax credit for money spent by major Waikiki hotels on significant renovations. Its Outrigger and Ohana brands, with more than 12,000 rooms in Hawaii and the pacific, are marketed around the world.
In the past decade, Outrigger has spent some $250 million on 20 major renovation projects in its Waikiki properties, including upgrading the Outrigger Reef and the Outrigger Waikiki from midmarket to upscale resorts.
Outrigger owns nearly 50,000 square feet of land on the Diamond Head side of Lewers in two adjacent hotel properties starting from the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center and running makai to just short of the Imperial of Waikiki.
On the other side of Lewers, it owns about 31,000 square feet and leases 6,400 square feet in a continuous strip, running from next door to Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays' Maile Sky Court Hotel up to a small commercial property at Kalia Road.