Visitors will see lots of changes in Hawaii
Hotels, shopping centers expanded and renovated
OAHU
• Ala Moana Center, which bills itself as the largest open-air shopping facility in the world, recently added a 200,000-square-foot Nordstrom, along with about 80,000 more square feet of retail space.
The addition of the high-end retailer, which is based in Seattle, was about 15 years in the making. It is the fifth expansion of the Oahu center since it opened in 1959.
Information: www.alamoanacenter.com.
• The Royal Hawaiian, which for many people embodies Waikiki, will close around June 1 for a $110 million renovation and will not reopen until mid-December.
The rehab of the "Pink Palace of the Pacific" will include $25 million for the guest rooms as well as upgrades to the pool area and changes to the lobby area that will open up the view.
The Royal Hawaiian opened in 1927 and was owned until 1959 by Matson Navigation Co., which operated passenger-ship service to Hawaii. The hotel, which now has 528 rooms, cost $4 million to build.
• Hilton Hawaiian Village, already a giant with 3,206 rooms in Waikiki, will grow even bigger by year's end.
The property will open a tower called the Grand Waikikian. The 331-room time share was recently topped off and is aiming for a December opening. One- and two-bedroom units cost $40,000 to $80,000 for seven days every year. Penthouses start at $100,000.
The village also recently renovated the artificial Duke Paoa Kahanamoku Lagoon, sinking $15 million into the rehab of the five-acre spot. Fresh seawater flows into the lagoon through seven saltwater wells, so water is replaced about five times a day.
The lagoon was part of industrialist Henry J. Kaiser's Hawaiian Village development that opened in the 1950s. The property became a Hilton in 1961.
Information: 808-949-4321 or 800-445-8667, www.hiltonhawaiianvillage.com. — Catharine Hamm
KAUAI
September looks likely for the opening of the Koa Kea Hotel & Resort, a luxury boutique hotel on Poipu Beach on the southern side of Kauai, a stretch of coastline dominated by the Sheraton Kauai Resort, the Outrigger Kiahuna Plantation, the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa and other large resorts. The Koa Kea was reconstructed from the ground up on the footprint of the Poipu Beach Hotel, which was shuttered after it was extensively damaged by Hurricane Iniki in 1992.
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