Developer gets
OK to rebuild
Iniki-ravaged hotel
LIHUE >> A developer has received approval to rebuild one of the last two hotels that have remained closed since Hurricane Iniki swept over Kauai 12 years ago.
The Kauai County Planning Commission on Tuesday approved permits for CTF Hawaii Hotel Partners to rebuild the Poipu Beach Hotel.
The hotel, which will be called the New Poipu Beach Hotel when it opens, will have 121 rooms, according to a Kauai County Planning Department report.
The developer also plans to reconfigure an existing pool, pool-bar and spa-pool, and plans to include the restaurant, bar, lobby and retail stores that existed before Iniki ravaged Kauai on Sept. 11, 1992.
The developer also plans to keep such features as the existing roof-lines, floral rails, lava-rock walls and ocean-themed amenities. Plans also call for improving an ocean pathway that runs in front of the hotel.
The county placed several conditions on the approval of the project, including requiring the developer to contribute toward building a bus stop and giving preference to Kauai builders, according to a planner with the Kauai County Planning Department.
CTF Hawaii Hotel Partners had announced in May 2003 that it was starting the process to rebuild the hotel.
At the time, John Komeiji, the company's Honolulu-based attorney, did not give a reason why it took nearly 11 years after Iniki to begin the rebuilding phase, but noted there had been pending litigation between CTF and the Knudsen family, which owns the land under the hotel.
The Poipu Beach Hotel, which sits on the beach between Kiahuna Plantation units and Marriott's Waiohai Beach Club, has been an eyesore since the hurricane damaged the property. At least one other hotel damaged by Iniki, the Coco Palms, remains shuttered.
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