Hilton suit blames Kalia Tower contractors for mold

By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer

As tourists enjoy the Hilton Hawaiian Village, the resort's Kalia Tower remains closed because of mold problems that are expected to cost $55 million to fix. Hilton Hotels Corp. yesterday sued 18 companies and individuals who helped develop the tower. Associated Press library photo

The Beverly Hills, Calif.-based hotel company named architects, engineers, construction companies and inspection firms in the suit, which seeks unspecified damages.

Eleven Hawai'i companies were among the defendants, including project architect Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo, Group Builders Inc. and Brewer Environmental Industries LLC.

General contractor Hawaiian Dredging was not named in the suit, but Hilton said it will seek to add Hawaiian Dredging as a defendant.

The suit, filed in state Circuit Court, provided the first details of suspected causes of the extensive mold problem that Hilton figures will cost $55 million to fix.

The hotel, which opened in mid-2001 at Waikiki's Hilton Hawaiian Village, is scheduled to reopen guest rooms sometime between July and September, after installation of new air-conditioning equipment, other repairs and the replacement of room furnishings that were thrown away.

Hilton, which paid $95 million to have Kalia Tower built, said it found numerous design and construction defects. These, it said, contributed to excessive humidity that allowed mold to grow.

The litany of mold causes and contributing factors, Hilton alleged, includes defects in the building's exterior finish, air intake and exhaust systems, door framing, fireproofing, linen chutes, drywall joints, insulation, lanai doors — even the orientation of the building toward prevailing winds.

Those are just some reasons listed in the suit. Overall, the alleged defects allowed excessive outside humid air into the building while the air handling system could not produce enough cool air that normally would maintain pressure to keep out warmer exterior air.

A representative of Honolulu-based Wimberly Allison referred all calls for comment to Ron Holecek, a company executive in the firm's California office who was gone for the evening. In Honolulu, Wimberly Allison chairman Don Goo and managing director Don Lee could not be reached.

The firm, which describes itself as the world's No. 1 resort designer, was hired in 1997 to plan, design and supervise construction of the 25-story Kalia Tower. The company won a Kahili Award in architecture for its work on Kalia Tower, for which Hilton said it paid more than $6 million.

Hilton also said it paid $90,000 to defendant Special Inspection Consultants Inc., a Hawai'i firm hired to inspect structural work, and $58,000 to California-based Rolf Jensen & Associates Inc. for work that involved pressurization of the hotel.

Other defendants in the suit, and their work according to Hilton, are:

• Ferris & Hamig Hawaii Inc., a mechanical engineering firm believed to have gone out of business;
• Frank Lum and Notkin Hawaii Inc., two local mechanical engineering consultants;
• Douglas V. MacMahon Inc., a Kaimuki-based electrical engineering consultant;
• Dorvin D. Leis Co. Inc., a local subcontractor for various work;
• Air Balance Hawaii Inc., which handled air testing among other work;
• Caulking Hawaii Inc., which did sealing work on lanai doors and exterior wall finishes;
• Rhode Island-based Dryvit Systems Inc., which also did work on exterior wall finishes;
• Washington state-based The Erection Co. Inc., which constructed steel stairways;
• A-1 A-Lectricians Inc., a Hawai'i company that made electrical installations;
• International Environmental Corp., an Oklahoma company that manufactured fan coil units;
• HVAC Hawaii, which worked on the fan coil units and chilled water valves; and
• Delaware-based Kawneer Co. Inc., which supplied glass lanai doors.

Correction: Kalia Tower general contractor Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co. Inc. is not in bankruptcy. A lawsuit filed by Hilton Hotels Corp. contained incorrect information that was included in a previous version of this story.