Committee OKs Hilton expansion
By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser City Hall Writer
A plan to expand the Hilton Hawaiian Village with a 38-story tower, a restaurant, a wedding chapel and a swimming pool on the site of the old Waikikian hotel won unanimous approval yesterday from the City Council's Zoning Committee. A final vote is scheduled for next Wednesday.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
The Hilton Hotels project, planned for a sliver of land between the Ilikai Renaissance Waikiki and the rest of the Hilton Hawaiian Village, drew some opposition, including complaints from neighboring residents about increased traffic congestion and loss of views. But a majority of the 65 people who signed up to testify yesterday spoke in favor of the project.
Robert Malandra testified yesterday that Hilton's employees take up parking at a nearby surf spot.
City planning and permitting director Randall Fujiki said Hilton is asking to exceed allowable building density by 7.3 percent. But he said the hotel also is proposing to put in a new traffic signal at Dewey Lane and Ala Moana, widen Dewey Lane and create a pedestrian plaza along Ala Moana/Dewey Lane.
Hilton Hotels Hawai'i senior vice president Peter Schall said the $80 million construction project would offer a number of public benefits, including retention of open space for more than half of the entire 22-acre Hawaiian Village site.
Council Zoning Committee chairman Duke Bainum, who represents the Waikiki area, said he believes that the hotel has made significant changes in the project to increase its attractiveness.
Bainum credited Hilton's willingness to make changes, including traffic improvements and agreeing to shift the building's orientation from diamondhead-'ewa to mauka-makai to reduce the visual impact. "Eight months ago, this room would have been jammed to the ceiling with protests," he said at the hearing.
The hotel is proposing to demolish the seven-story Waikikian Hotel and build a 350-foot tower with 350 time-share/hotel units. The project includes a new parking garage, shops, a restaurant and swimming pool.
Cindy Jacobson, who owns an apartment at the Ilikai, spoke against the project. "There are 219 of these private units that face directly upon the Hilton and who will be grossly affected by the construction done on the Waikikian site," said Jacobson, whose family has owned a unit in the building since the 1960s.
Jacobson said the neighbors lost out years ago when Hilton built large hotel towers. "We would like to protect our investment," she said.
George Downing, a member of Save Our Surf, said the city should require Hilton to provide more parking for hotel employees. Downing said boaters, surfers and beachgoers are squeezed out of public parking by hotel employees.
The meeting of the full City Council next Wednesday, when the final vote will be taken, will be in Kapolei.
Schall said the hotel will provide free bus transportation from Waikiki to anyone who wants to testify on the issue. To reserve a spot, call 947-8636, he said.
Schall said he is concerned that critics might think the hotel had tried to schedule the vote at Kapolei to make it inconvenient for opponents; he said Hilton had no control over the scheduling and wants to ensure that anyone who wants to be heard can get there without charge.
