Makaha Resort to reopen next month

By James Gonser
Advertiser Leeward Bureau

MAKAHA — Seven years after the Sheraton Makaha Resort Hotel closed it doors, the Makaha Resort Golf Club is resurrecting the hotel, hiring workers and scheduling a "soft opening" next month with 72 newly renovated rooms available to guests.

The resort will give a shot in the arm to Leeward Coast efforts to attract more visitors and will mean more jobs for residents in an area where unemployment averaged 8.6 percent last year, compared with the O'ahu average of 3.8 percent.

"We are going to market the hotel as Hawai'i's premier kama'aina golf resort," said resort manager Sterling Paulos. "We feel we have a product that is just like a Neighbor Island property but you don't need to fly on a plane."

Renovations are being done in three phases, Paulos said, and by the first week of October work will be finished on the 72 rooms, the lobby and entryway, front desk, restaurant and some public areas.

"We have already done work on the golf course, redoing the ponds, and ordered new golf carts," Paulos said.

The second phase will include renovating the pool, snack bar, outdoor cafe, the meeting and banquet rooms and offices, and is expected to be completed early next year.

Work on all 200 rooms at the resort will be done in the final phase, expected to be completed in April.

Island financier Chinn Ho built the Makaha Resort in 1969, and ANA Hotels Hawai'i Inc. bought the property in 1979. The hotel closed in 1995 and 175 employees were laid off. A crew was kept to run the golf club, which Sheraton stopped managing in January 1999.

Wisconsin-based real estate development company Towne Realty Inc. bought the Makaha Golf Club and former Sheraton Makaha hotel last year from ANA Hotels for an estimated $7 million to $12 million. Towne Realty has developed various properties around the country, including residential, time-share and hotel projects.

Nanakuli resident Patty Teruya, who worked at the Sheraton hotel as the food and beverage manager for 14 years before it closed, said the hotel reopening is good for the community.

"It is good for the people, it is good for the economy," Teruya said. "I was there when it closed down and it was a great hardship on a lot of families."

Teruya would like to see the hotel hire Leeward Coast residents and allow them to have good jobs close to home.

"Our community needs good-paying jobs," Teruya said. "We have been waiting a long time for this. It is going to help the Wai'anae Coast dramatically."

Paulos said of the 600 job applicants interviewed last month, 55 people have already been hired and 40 to 45 more will be added by Oct. 5.

He estimates that 85 percent of the workers are from the area between Waipahu and Wai'anae.

Paulos said a business group has already booked rooms for the first weekend.

Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 988-1383.