O'ahu developers list big plans

By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer

By the end of the decade, O'ahu may see a large expansion in accommodations for visitors, according to a study by the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism. Advertiser archive photo • Sept. 7, 1998

Among the proposed additions: up to 400 hotel rooms at the Turtle Bay Hilton Golf & Tennis Resort on the North Shore by 2003; 950 hotel and vacation condominium units at Ocean Pointe's 'Ewa Beach marina by 2010; and between 1,500 and 2,500 hotel rooms at Ko Olina in West O'ahu by 2010.

Other O'ahu projects listed in the report were the 453-room Kalia Tower at Hilton Hawaiian Village scheduled to open next month and Marriott International's 750-unit timeshare at Ko Olina to come on line between 2002 and 2006.

Hilton's recently proposed 400-unit time-share on the site of the vacant Waikikian Hotel and former Tahitian Lanai restaurant was not included in the tally.

The state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism listed the development projects in a new study of the state's visitor-room inventory.

Hawai'i's visitor infrastructure has been relatively flat in the last decade, expanding or contracting by no more than 1.4 percent in nine of the last 10 years, the study showed.

The statewide total of bed and breakfasts, cabins, hostels, time-shares, vacation condos, hotels and other visitor accommodations rose by 349 units, or 0.5 percent, to 71,506 in the 12 months ending May 1. That was a 1 percent rebound from the 0.5 percent decline for the previous 12 months ending May 1, 1999.

More substantial were the changes by type of visitor accommodation and by island, useful for directing marketing and assessing how many visitors the state can handle at any one time.

"This report continues to be a valuable tool in the analysis of the state's carrying capacity, and in determining parameters for marketing efforts by our visitor industry," said Seiji Naya, department director.

Bed and breakfast accommodations showed the strongest growth, increasing 21.5 percent, to 514. Still, this category represents a tiny portion of the visitor plant, accounting for 0.7 of all rooms.

Individual vacation units, a category that includes time-shares and other accommodations with limited service, expanded by 19.7 percent, to 1,355 rooms, which was 1.9 percent of the visitor plant total. Timeshare units alone grew by 8.5 percent, to 3,825 units.

Hotel rooms, which account for 70.9 percent of all visitor units, increased by 0.9 percent, to 50,681. Condominium/hotel units, the second biggest category at 23.3 percent of the visitor plant, fell 3.2 percent, to 16,647 rooms.

By island, visitor room inventory increased on O'ahu and Kaua'i, rising 1.2 percent and 4.2 percent, respectively. That offset decreases on Moloka'i (23.1 percent), Maui (1.2 percent), the Big Island (0.4 percent) and Lana'i (0.3 percent).

O'ahu represented about half of all inventory, and is the area with the greatest number of rooms planned, according to the study.

Citing county planning records, the report said the owner of the Turtle Bay resort is doing conceptual design work for a hotel with up to 400 rooms that would be open by 2003.

Resort representatives could not be reached for more information. According to the state, the project would succeed a Kawela Bay hotel project planned by former resort owner Asahi Jyuken.

Haseko Homes Inc. plans to develop a combination of 950 resort condos and hotel rooms as an accessory to its marina at the master planned Ocean Pointe community.

Vicki Gaynor, Haseko Homes assistant vice president, said the low-rise project, estimated to be complete by 2010, would be useful to house guests of major fishing and yachting tournaments who bring their boats to the planned 1,400-slip marina (about twice the size of the Ala Wai boat harbor).

"We're certainly not talking about a Hilton Hawaiian Village next to the marina," she said. "We're not a secondary resort."

Ko Olina is a master planned resort projected to add 1,500 to 2,500 hotel rooms by 2010, according to the report, which notes that six separate owners of zoned hotel parcels have no immediate plans.

Building all the visitor room projects listed in the report would add about 18,000 rooms to the existing inventory, a 25 percent increase over 10 years, or 2.5 percent a year on average.

Andrew Gomes can be reached by phone at 525-8065, or by e-mail at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com