Kyo-ya Hotels & Resorts has been busy over the last five years, spending a total of $270 million on extensive renovations at three of its Waikiki properties: the Royal Hawaiian, the Moana Surfrider and the Sheraton Waikiki. The final, $700 million phase of the company's "Revitalization of Waikiki" plan will include dramatic changes for its Princess Kaiulani property and the construction of the first new oceanfront resort on Waikiki Beach in 30 years.
Extensive changes planned for the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani include the demolition of two aging buildings while the property's 28-story Ainahau tower undergoes a substantial upgrade. A new, 33-story Pikake tower is also in the works and will feature 210 condo hotel units beneath more than 60 whole-ownership residences.
"Princess Kaiulani was built in the 1960s and 1970s," explained Greg Dickhens, executive vice president for Kyo-ya. "Some of the guestroom product is dated and in need of a renovation, but given the size and orientation of some of those guestrooms, we think the best use would be to replace those buildings.
"Another one of the nice features of the project is we're increasing the public open space along Kalakaua Avenue and pushing our buildings back, creating large pedestrian promenades at the center of Waikiki."
Kyo-ya also plans to demolish the eight-story, 140-room Diamondhead Tower annex immediately east of the Moana Surfrider's Banyan Wing. Built in 1952, the annex would be replaced with a 26-story, oceanfront luxury tower consisting of 185 hotel rooms and 40 whole-ownership residences.
"When you look at the visitor industry product, or the hotel product in Waikiki, this would be a significant improvement over what currently exists," Dickhens said. "Most of the products were built in the 1970s or the 1980s, and [the new luxury tower] would be an upscale product with larger guestrooms [and] larger bathrooms."
Dickhens said the complicated permitting process for the final phase of Kyo-ya's expansion project is well under way.
"We've submitted our environmental impact statement, and that has been accepted by the department of planning and permitting," Dickhens said. "There are various other permits we need, but all of those applications have been submitted, and based on the current schedule, we should have all of our permits in place for the entitlements by October of this year."
The actual construction work, however, is still a long ways off and not likely to begin before April 2012. Once started, Dickhens said the Princess Kaiulani project is expected to take three years to complete, while work on the beachfront tower should be finished in two.
The Princess Kaiulani is scheduled to remain a Sheraton, a Starwood Hotels and Resorts brand. Dickhens said the new luxury tower would definitely be a five-star hotel and that discussions about making the destination a W property have occurred, but no final decision on a brand has been made.