A Japanese firm’s 350-foot mixed-use condominium-hotel tower being planned for the former property of the Kyo-ya Restaurant in Waikiki was met with strong opposition by some community members and the area’s neighborhood board.
Keith Kurahashi, president of the Honolulu-based planning and zoning consulting firm Kusao & Kurahashi Inc. presented plans for the 176-unit “One Waikiki” project to the Waikiki Neighborhood Board, which opposed the project because of height limit concerns.
The property’s current height limit is 25 feet, but the new owners of the property, Best Hospitality LLC, whose parent is Tokyo-based Tsukada Global Holdings, hope to raise the height limit to 350 feet.
Honolulu-based architecture firm WATG is part of the project and provided renderings for the condo-hotel, which would be located on two parcels of land encompassing about 28,000-square-feet at the edge of Fort DeRussy on Kalakaua Avenue.
Kurahashi said the developer will need to ask for a height limit increase, as well as do a draft environmental assessment and file a Waikiki Special District application.
He contended that the current height limit for the property, which was home to the Kyo-ya Restaurant for 50 years, no longer applies.
As part of the development, the Kyo-ya Restaurant, which closed in 2007, will be demolished.
The condo-hotel, which will include a pool deck, jacuzzi, fitness center, spa, an owner’s lounge, kitchen and restaurant, cafe, a wedding chapel, a bride room, a reflection pool, bridal gardens, four penthouse units and two large gardens, will have a common theme of large lanais and balconies.
There will be a total of 51 parking stalls for the project.
In terms of its economic benefits, Kurahashi noted that it would create many construction jobs and 100 permanent jobs, as well as millions in taxes to the city and state.
He also said that the project would add much needed room capacity to the state’s tourism mecca, especially since a total of 2,684 hotel units have been lost in Waikiki since 2003.
But several board members voiced their concerns about the proposed height limit increase of the project, going as far as passing a resolution to oppose the project’s height increase.
Hawaii developer Kevin Showe and a group of investors sold the property to Best Hospitality for $30.5 million, as first reported by PBN.
The property is zoned for resort/mixed-use and could be turned into a hotel, time share, condominium or a restaurant.
PBN also first reported about the developer’s plans to turn to build a condo-hotel.
Tsukada Global Holdings, which consists of companies in the wedding, hotel, restaurant, wellness and relaxation businesses, owns Best Bridal Hawaii Inc., an upscale wedding chapel owner.
Duane Shimogawa
Reporter
Pacific Business News
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