Speculation persists about the possible construction of a new
Atlantis Resorts property at Ko Olina on the west coast of Oahu.
Jack Richards, the president and CEO of Los Angeles-based
Pleasant Holidays, brought up the potential development project earlier this
week at Travel Weekly’s annual Hawaii Roundtable, an on-the-record conversation
with a collection of tourism executives and stakeholders held Wednesday at the
Sheraton Waikiki.
“We’ve been in discussions with Atlantis, and they have an
option on the land next to the Aulani,” Richards said, referring to a vacant
beachfront property neighboring the Disney resort at Ko Olina. “I don’t know if
it’s going to happen or not, but according to them, it is going to happen.”
A number of reports about a potential Atlantis Resorts
development at Ko Olina appeared across local Hawaii media outlets in late
January, all of them based on unnamed sources. In fact, a Jan. 22 Hawaii News
Now report cited sources who indicated the new 15-acre Oahu property might
resemble Atlantis the Palm, Dubai, and could cost more than $2 billion to build,
making it the most expensive resort ever.
Richards, meanwhile, didn’t offer any specifics about what Atlantis
officials might be planning for Oahu, but he did make it clear he felt the
potential development would be a positive for Aloha State tourism.
“That brings a different and new hotel chain to the Hawaiian
Islands,” he said. “We hope it happens.”
The 650-acre Ko Olina Resort on the western coast of Oahu is
currently home not only to Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa, but also the Marriott
Ko Olina Beach Club and the new Four Seasons Resort Oahu, which is slated to
welcome its first guests this summer.