Lunalilo Home reopens with new look
By Adrienne Ancheta
Advertiser Staff Writer
More than four years after closing for renovations and placing its residents in other care homes, Lunalilo Home finally opens to residents today with two returnees and a newcomer.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
The retirement home for people of Hawaiian descent closed in 1997 for what was supposed to be nine months of renovations. However, workers uncovered disintegrating pipes, floors ready to collapse, giant termite nests and old electrical wires, and the extensive work pushed back the reopening.
Herman Celema, left, and Concha Matanguihan prepare Lunalilo Home for its reopening after a $4.5 million renovation. Two returnees and a newcomer are the first residents.
Once the $4.5 million project was complete, including the addition of 20,000 square feet of space, administrators waited a few months for Department of Health licensing. Despite the long wait, administrators are happy with the results.
"The final product is wonderful," said administrator Gregg Meyer. "It's more comfortable and safer for all who live and work here. It's a happy place to be."
Potential residents began anticipating the opening of the home since late last year, when Meyer began receiving applications. Because the home is not a medical facility, the selection process includes physical exams to determine the person's needed level of care. People who are solely dependent on wheelchairs or are bed-ridden are not considered for entrance. For now, residents cannot use wheelchairs because the home is still waiting for Health Department approval, though Meyer expects that could come within a week.
Selection of residents began two months ago as the home seemed nearer to opening, Meyer said. The average cost for residents at the home is $3,000 a month, depending on the resident's level of care, and financial aid is available.
Three residents moving in today will be able to take advantage of new private bathrooms, cable television and new outdoor furniture. Meyer hopes to fill the home by the end of the year.
Aside from returning residents, about half of the staff laid off at the home's closure have elected to return to the historic home, created in the will of King William Charles Lunalilo.
The home was originally located near Roosevelt High School but was moved to its current site, on the slopes of Koko Head Crater next to Kaiser High School, in 1927. The building itself was made in 1914 for Marconi wireless company employees.
"It's built like a fortress, and with the renovations it should be good for another hundred years," Meyer said.
The main objective of the renovations, though, was to care for the average resident at 80. Forty-two Native Hawaiians eventually will win that luxury.
