Luxury senior
complex opens

393 high-end units at Kahala Nui
are nearly sold out

Richard Rothrock and his wife, Margie, say they could have bought a good-sized home with the $456,000 they spent on a one-bedroom apartment at upscale retirement community Kahala Nui.

But living out their lives in resort style, the 78-year-olds add, is priceless. There's also the benefit of not having to worry about long-term care. If he needs assisted living later in life, Rothrock says with a smile, he'll have easy access to it.

"It is costly," Rothrock said at a grand opening ceremony for Kahala Nui yesterday. "But we planned very well, with good investments. ... I worked 40 years of my life to have a good pension."

More than 700 people, including Mayor Mufi Hannemann, turned out for the retirement home's grand opening.

Some 500 Kahala Nui residents will start moving in on Tuesday.

Kahala Nui, a $200-million campus covering more than six acres on Malia Street, is billed as a "luxury senior community," and residents have access to a fitness center, swimming pool and Jacuzzi, media room, library, beauty salon and barber shop.

On top of the cost of the apartments, which start at about $330,000, monthly fees for food, maintenance and optional nursing care can range from $3,000 to more than $9,000, officials said.

Rothrock said residents have been told to expect a 3 to 5 percent increase on maintenance fees annually.

The community's two towers have 270 one-, two- or three-bedroom independent-living apartments, and 123 assisted-living units.

All but of a few of them are sold.

The community employs about 225 workers, including nurses, food preparers and maintenance workers.

Charles Swanson, chairman of Kahala Senior Living Community Inc., the nonprofit corporation that developed Kahala Nui, said there's a great need for "continuum of care" programs.

It's taken more than a decade for the project to become a reality. The Episcopal Church in Hawaii started the concept, but plans fell through in 1994.

Swanson's nonprofit took up the project about four years ago and was able to start construction in 2003.

Kahala Nui is managed by Greystone Communities, which also oversees operations at 55 senior living communities on the mainland.