Outrigger
hotel soldInvestor Peter Savio will
turn the Ohana Surf
into rental units
The 251-room Ohana Surf Hotel on Kuhio Avenue has been sold to a company owned by real estate investor Peter Savio. Savio said he is paying about $7.5 million for the building, which stands on land leased for about 30 years from the Queen Emma Foundation.
Savio said that when the deal closes, probably next week, he intends to turn it into a rental apartment complex, offering studio apartments for $650-$800 a month and one-bedrooms for $750-$900 a month, including water and electricity. Studio units range from 300-400 square feet, one-bedrooms from 464-500 square feet.
The building will be renamed The Ohia.
"Instead of daily (like a hotel) we're aiming at long-stay, anywhere from a few weeks up to a year. We're actually going after the local market," he said.
All the units have kitchens, although they are small, because when Outrigger founder Roy Kelley built the building he wanted to be able to use it for apartments if the hotel business didn't work out, Savio said.
The hotel at 2280 Kuhio Ave., on the mauka side of Kuhio at Nohonani Street near the International Market Place, has been marketed as a budget vacation destination and has been popular, among other reasons, because visitors could cook some of their own meals in their units.
The hotel operation has been closed since Oct. 1, but its shops and restaurants remain open, including Waikiki's first L&L Hawaiian Barbecue restaurant, which opened on the property in July.
The building has shops, a small outdoor pool and central air conditioning.
Savio has converted a number of hotels to condominiums, but this one will be only rental.
The buyer is Savio-owned Hawaiian Island Development Co. and the rental management will be handled by another Savio company, Hawaiian Island Homes Ltd.
David Carey, president and chief executive officer of Outrigger Enterprises, said the sale is in line with Outrigger's focus on its huge Waikiki Beach Walk redevelopment project. "The Ohana Surf is not part of that master plan," and its sale allows Outrigger to focus more of its attention on the forthcoming development, Carey said.
