Outrigger Enterprises Group plans to spend $100 million on a redevelopment of its Outrigger Reef on the Beach that will add a 200-room hotel tower to the Waikiki hotel along with increased meeting space, open recreation and dining areas.
The project, which is in the planning stages, represents a commitment to its Hawaii roots for the Honolulu-based hospitality company, which has been expanding in the Pacific, Southeast Asia and, most recently the Indian Ocean with its Outrigger Mauritius Resort and Spa, Outrigger President and CEO David Carey said in a statement.
Carey said the company’s expansion outside Hawaii has “heightened our awareness of the steep competition that Hawaii faces from leisure destinations across the globe.”
“The quality of our hotel product, destination and service standards must continue to improve in order to keep pace with the evolving expectations of our guests,” Carey said. “We’re now in the early planning stages of this much-needed revitalization and will be working closely with state and city officials for proper approvals.”
As part of the project, an existing five-story building at the oceanfront hotel, which is next door to the Halekulani, will be torn down to make way for 34,000 square feet of open space that will include “enhanced swimming pools,” landscaping and open-air dining.
The new hotel tower will be set back from the beach along Kalia Road and will add 15,000 square feet of new meeting space and create 100 new hotel jobs. The company expects entitlements and permitting to take three years, with construction starting in 2017 and a completion targeted for 2019.
Outrigger’s last major redevelopment project in Waikiki was the $535 million Waikiki Beach Walk project that opened in late 2006 and revamped a block along Lewers Street with several dozen retail shops and restaurants, and a 21-story Embassy Suites Hotel.
Other major redevelopment projects planned for Waikiki include the Queen Emma Land Co.’s International Market Place project, which is being developed by Taubman Centers and CoastWood Capital Group and broke ground last month, and Kyo-ya Hotels & Resorts’ redevelopment of the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani hotel, which has been put on hold until next year.