Problems with mold
not new in Waikiki

The Hale Koa Hotel battled a similar
mold outbreak 7 years ago

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By Tim Ruel
truel@starbulletin.com

A major Waikiki hotel builds a new $100 million tower. Shortly after opening, the hotel finds mold in the rooms, with a nasty smell. Experts tell the hotel it needs to correct a million-dollar construction and design problem.

The site was the U.S. Army's Hale Koa Hotel, next door, ironically enough, to Hilton Hawaiian Village. Earlier this week, Hilton removed all guests from rooms at its newly built 453-room Kalia Tower because mold was found in many of the rooms. Hilton came out with a public announcement and brought in experts to investigate.

Details are sketchy, but Hilton's mold problem sounds similar to a mold outbreak that hit the Hale Koa seven years ago.

Before Hilton, the Hale Koa was the last hotel in Waikiki to build a new tower. Construction began on the 396-room Maile Tower in 1993, and it opened in 1995 at a cost of $110 million. It didn't take long for mold to set in.

"Essentially, the problem happened from the very opening day," said David Odom, an expert from Orlando, Fla., hired to investigate the mold at the Hale Koa. Odom is vice president of the building services group for Colorado-based engineering services firm CH2M Hill.

The Hale Koa found that mildew was trapped in wall cavities under vinyl wall covering, said John Jefferis, general manager of the Hale Koa.

The hotel attempted to clean up the mold using its usual housekeeping techniques, Odom said. They didn't work. The hotel needed major repair, and the smell was getting bad.

Unlike the Hilton, the Hale Koa didn't close the entire Maile Tower. Instead it tackled the mold half a floor at a time in the 13-story property. All moldy materials had to be removed, including carpeting, wall boards and wall coverings, Odom said. The total cost of the fix was more than $5 million, Odom recalled.

"I want to say it took about six months," Jefferis said.

Why did it happen? The key to preventing mold is controlling moisture. Hawaii has a hot, humid climate, and hotels and their rooms have a constant flow of people opening and closing doors, going inside and out. The trick is to pump so much cool air into the building that it prevents the hot humid air from seeping in, Odom said. The Hale Koa's air-conditioning system was not the right size, Odom said. Also, wall cavities were inadvertently trapping moisture.

Essentially, the hotel was designed and built improperly, Odom said. Any errors in design or construction in a hot, humid climate will almost always show up as a mold problem, Odom said.

Odom said he sees it all the time.

"Rampant is the best term," he said.

The Hale Koa reached a settlement with the tower's design team and the construction team for their involvement in the problem, Jefferis said. He declined to comment on the settlement.

The general contractor for the Hale Koa was Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co., which also was the general contractor for Hilton's Kalia Tower.

The contractor group, which includes the subcontractors on the project, did make a contribution toward the settlement, said Bill Wilson, president of Hawaiian Dredging. He couldn't recall what his firm's contribution was.

"We built the hotel the way we were told to build the hotel," Wilson said.

Odom, the forensic expert, said that in-depth analysis in the early stages of design would have exposed potential trouble.

Wilson said that he, too, thought it was a design problem, but he added that his comments could be seen as self-serving.

"They do the best they can but it oftentimes is complex and difficult for the design community to do," Wilson said.

For example, lots of visitors flow in and out of hotels, and maintenance is being done all the time, he said.

"It's an issue that owners, designers and contractors are dealing with regularly," Wilson said.

As for the construction, "the reality is you've got a lot of people doing a lot of things," Wilson said.

Design officials for the Hale Koa project couldn't be reached for comment last night.

Unlike Hilton, the Hale Koa didn't go public with its mold problem seven years ago. The mold wasn't harmful, and the hotel's rooms are restricted to military personnel, retirees and their families, Jefferis said.

"We had the spores tested and just sought a solution to fix it," he said.