A plan to divide and sell the 80-room Waikiki Beachside Hotel on Kalakaua Avenue as a 10-unit luxury condominium has been canceled by the property's owner, which now intends to sell the 12-story building as is.

The boutique hotel opposite Kuhio Beach was bought for $9.8 million in 2003 by RKL Beachside LLC, led by Michael Richardson, from local hotelier André Tatibouet, who was facing foreclosure on the property by lenders.

RKL in 2005 launched plans to transform the then-Aston-managed hotel into the Royal Kai Lani with 10 luxury residences — one per floor — available for fee-simple purchase for an average of $5 million each.

The plan included adding a two-story restaurant with outdoor dining along Kalakaua, and a penthouse with an 800-square-foot rooftop garden and spa. Typical units were designed at about 3,000 square feet, accessed by two elevators, and were marketed as a "one-of-a-kind home."

Renovation is under way on 20 of the 80 units, but the condo conversion was canceled in part because units didn't sell well. County approvals to convert the hotel into 10 condo units have expired.

RKL recently retained local commercial real estate firm Colliers Monroe Friedlander and San Francisco-based PKF Capital to market and sell the property. No asking price is set for the hotel.

Mark Bratton, a Colliers broker, said potential uses include completing the renovation and operating the property as a more upscale hotel, selling rooms individually as a condominium-hotel or even converting the property to time-share.

The Beachside, at 2452 Kalakaua Ave. between the Hyatt Regency Waikiki and Pacific Beach Hotel, was built in 1966. Tatibouet redeveloped the 12-story hotel about 20 years ago, and it was the first to bear the Aston brand, which Tatibouet founded in 1986.

Tatibouet later sold Aston to Memphis, Tenn.-based ResortQuest International Inc. and eventually left the company after a dispute over licensing the Aston brand.

Aqua Hotels and Resorts now manages the Beachside, which continues to operate.