COURTESY KIM TAYLOR REECE Robert Wyland, left, and partner Edward Bushor plan to turn a nondescript Kuhio Avenue hotel into a work of art.

First Wyland hotel
to open in Waikiki

Robert Wyland is partnering in
the redevelopment of the former
Ohana Waikiki Surf on Kuhio Avenue

Celebrated marine artist Robert Wyland, who has long promoted respect for ocean resources through public art, is extending his preservation efforts to Waikiki's urban renewal by partnering with developers to produce the first Wyland-themed hotel.

Wyland announced plans yesterday to transform the former Ohana Waikiki Surf, one of Kuhio Avenue's off-beach budget hotels, into an interactive work of art, called the Wyland Waikiki. Joining Wyland in the endeavor to extend Waikiki's gentrification into its budget district are San Diego-based partner Edward L. Bushor of eRealty Cos. and Hakim Quansafi, president and chief executive of the newly formed Diamond Hotels and Resorts Inc.

The 404-room hotel, the first of many planned nationwide by the trio, will boast a Wyland-designed ocean and reef color scheme. Pieces of Wyland's multimillion-dollar art collection will be displayed throughout the hotel's guest rooms, elevators, entrance, lobby and corridors.

Developers will spend between $7.5 and $10 million to redevelop the property, but Wyland said his contribution of art is priceless.

"I'm taking this project very personally," said Wyland, who acknowledged this is his most aggressive public art project to date.

"I have 40 galleries, but I have never had the opportunity to fully integrate my art into a property," he said. "It will absolutely be about how Hawaii has inspired my life."

Instead of the current faded, brown-stained wallpaper, Formica countertops and motel art, Wyland envisions an underwater paradise complete with bronze and marine-life sculptures combined with the sound of flowing water and the brilliant colors of the sea.

"We're going to bring the beach over here to Kuhio," Wyland said yesterday while standing outside the nondescript circa 1960s hotel, which is dwarfed by neighboring concrete towers.

"Each floor is themed with Hawaiian marine life to mirror the beauty of the islands and give guests a classic island style," he said. "Every aspect of the hotel will be filled with art, music and a sense of serenity."

Wyland has invited 14 other local artists, including his friend Kim Taylor Reece, to display their work at the property, where Wyland also will have a studio. Wyland said he's hoping that the hotel's bar will become a haven for local artists and entertainers to draw on each other's creativity.

"This may turn out to be a cul-de-sac of culture," Reece said. "It's going to be a really exciting place for artists to come and hang out."

Combining fine art and development is an idea that works, said Bushor, whose specialty is buying fixer-uppers. Despite its neglected appearance, Bushor said he saw promise in the Ohana Waikiki Surf, which he bought for $38 million in March from Katokichi Co., a Japanese firm that acquired the property in 1990 during Hawaii's bubble economy.

"When I first bought this hotel, I wandered around the street and saw that it was like any other," Bushor said. "I knew that if I was going to set it apart, this hotel would need to make a statement."

When Bushor began brainstorming how to reposition his investment in Waikiki, he said his thoughts turned to Wyland, the artist who had painted a whale mural on another of Bushor's Oahu buildings, the Airport Center, during its 2000 renovation.

"It was a good fit," Bushor said of his newest partnership with Wyland. "Consumers want an experience when they go to a hotel. We're going to give them one."

The hotel, which is targeted to open in January, will likely compete with the Radisson Waikiki Prince Kuhio and nearby hotels along Kalakaua Avenue and Lewers Street, said Quansafi, who is shopping for a hotel management company for the property.

The hotel, which lies between Royal Hawaiian Avenue and Lewers Street, is positioned to capitalize on Outrigger's Waikiki Beach Walk project and the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center's redevelopment, he said.

"We're the next logical location for redevelopment," Quansafi said.