COURTESY DESIGN PARTNERS INC. A 5,000-square-foot chapel planned for Waikiki would include two banquet rooms on the ground floor and a steeple up to 60 feet high, replacing an abandoned two-story walkup. CLICK FOR LARGE

60-foot Waikiki chapel moving ahead

The $2.5 million project is not supported by the neighborhood board

A Tokyo-based wedding company is moving forward with plans to build a $2.5 million chapel in Waikiki without the support of the district's neighborhood board.

Renderings made for the Arluis Wedding Chapel portray a modern-style structure with a steeple up to 60 feet high. The 5,000-square-foot structure would include two banquet rooms on the ground floor and a chapel upstairs.

Good Luck Corp., doing business as Arluis Bridal, owns the lot at the mauka-diamond head corner of Kuhio Avenue and Kaiolu Street, and hopes to begin construction sometime next year, pending a Waikiki Special District permit.

"Plans are still going forward," said Taeyong Kim of Environmental Communications Inc., the planning consultant for the project. "They own the site, and it [a chapel] is very clearly an allowed use under the land-use ordinance."

The site is zoned apartment mixed use and has a height limit of up to 300 feet. A boarded-up and abandoned two-story walkup that occupies the site would be demolished to make way for the chapel.

Arluis bought the lot last year for $2.9 million, and filed its environmental assessment with the state in August. A review is due Sept. 23.

Arluis is a large and well-established company in Japan, said Kim, and has over the years been coordinating weddings in various churches around Oahu.

Kim said the chapel would help Arluis organize wedding ceremonies and receptions under one roof. It would be open seven days a week, hosting up to six weddings a day.

Typical Arluis clients want a private banquet for between nine to 12 guests. The site's location in central Waikiki would mean visitors could also walk to a wedding from hotels.

Earlier this year, the Hilton Hawaiian Village opened a new chapel to cater to wedding clientele. Six years ago, Gloria Bridal, a Japanese-based company, opened the St. Catalina Chapel on Sea Life Park property in Makapuu overlooking the ocean and Rabbit Island.

In its August meeting, the Waikiki neighborhood board voted not to support the chapel.

Concerns from Waikiki residents and board members included traffic, parking issues, noise and aesthetics.

"My concern was with the aesthetics," said Jeff Merz, a board member who voted against the chapel. "If we want to preserve Hawaiiana, I thought the design was straying from that further."

Arluis, however, did comply with parking requirements. It plans to reserve parking stalls for guests at a lot across the street.

Architect Kendall Ellingwood III, an associate of Design Partners Inc. who is designing the chapel, said he changed it to reflect a more "Hawaiian sense of place" in response to community concerns.

Besides tropical landscaping using indigenous rocks, the chapel will feature a tile roof, dark-stained wood and Hawaiian motifs.

"We were disappointed with the reaction, but we're still proceeding with the project," Ellingwood said. "Within the limits of a chapel, we were trying our best to incorporate as many Hawaiian elements as possible."

Though the number of Japanese visitors to Hawaii is dropping, weddings are still big business for Hawaii. Many Japanese couples -- some of whom are already legally married -- opt to celebrate with a Western-style ceremony and reception in Hawaii, while also taking a vacation.

Rick Egged, president of the Waikiki Improvement Association, said the nonprofit group holds no official position on the chapel.

"As long as the proposal is within the law, they should be allowed to do it," Egged said.