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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, May 25, 2001

Ko Olina adding time-shares, subdivision

By Glenn Scott
Advertiser Staff Writer

As separate blessings marked the start of a time-share complex and a residential subdivision at the Ko Olina Resort & Marina yesterday, the development's manager said he expects to line up at least one more major addition by the end of the year.

Ke Kai O Kahiki hula halau helps celebrate the start of the Marriott project at Ko Olina. In foreground are ÎoÎo, traditional implements that were used in the groundbreaking.

Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

The Ko Olina area has a hotel, the JW Marriott Ihilani Resort, and Jeff Stone, managing partner of Ko Olina Co. LLC, said yesterday that resort officials are in negotiations with other companies, and he anticipates announcing another hotel addition by the end of the year.

The news and blessing ceremonies yesterday are more indications that the long-stalled resort area is gaining development momentum.

Stone, managing partner of Ko Olina Co. LLC, said a groundbreaking for Marriott Vacation Club International's ambitious, 750-unit time-share development assures the West O'ahu resort area of a crucial increase in visitors, helping to "re-anchor this island as a family destination."

Moreover, a grand opening of a Brookfield Homes residential development, with plans for 270 homes, promises a different benefit. Stone said the homes in the Coconut Plantation at Ko 'Olina, priced in the $350,000 to $500,000 range, will promote a cultural mix of buyers, integrating second-home vacationers with local residents moving from other areas.

Acquired in 1998

Ko Olina Co., a partnership of local investors and Ohio-based National Housing Corp., first acquired much of what had been the stalled and mostly undeveloped West O'ahu resort in 1998. Since then, the firm, alone or with other partners, purchased the Ihilani Resort & Spa hotel and golf course.

It also has started construction on an oceanfront restaurant, athletic club and meeting facility at the master-planned resort community. The $6 million, two-phase project called Ko 'Olina Ocean Club is being built between Lagoon No. 4 and a 270-slip marina that opened in March. It is scheduled for completion by the beginning of next year.

But despite recent additions to complement the existing hotel, golf course and a $40 million marina, Stone said the development won't meet short-term expectations until he signs up both medium-priced and luxury-level hotels.

But the Marriott and Brookfield developments are expected to play key roles.

The $300 million Marriott time-share project, called Ko 'Olina Beach Club, could help raise the visitor count at Ko Olina. Its two-bedroom, 1,240-square-foot units — Marriott calls them "villas" — will hold as many as eight guests each. That means the 14-floor structure on 28 acres could hold a few thousand guests at a time, much like a major hotel.

Officials with parent Marriott International Inc. have made the same point, referring to the Beach Club in the same breath with the company's hotels on the Islands. The Beach Club, designed by Architects Hawai'i, will be the largest time-share development in Hawai'i and Marriott's fourth time-share property in the Islands.

Time-share outlook good

Marriott's plans for Ko Olina fit the predictions from a recent economic analysis on Hawai'i's time-share industry. That study, done for the American Resort Development Association, said time-share developments will grow in size and scope as larger, better-capitalized developers expand activities in the state.

Construction of Marriott's Beach Club is planned in phases. In the first phase, the company hopes to complete 124 units by January 2003. If built out, the development will dwarf the Islands' earlier generation of time-share projects, which averaged 66 units.

The time-share study by KPMG LLP, Market Trends Pacific Inc. and RCI Consulting Inc. forecasts more growth, with as many as 3,000 units likely to be built in five to 10 years.

Meanwhile, Toronto-based Brookfield Homes' eight model homes will open today. The subdivision, the company's first project in the state, features a centerpiece swimming lagoon with a sand bottom as well as a thatched roof community room.