Blackstone Group, owner of the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort & Spa, plans to spend $50 million to redevelop the existing shopping center at the hotel by opening it up to busy Kalakaua Avenue, the main commercial street in Hawaii’s tourism mecca.
The project at the 39-story, 1,231-room hotel is expected to add about 23,000 square feet of retail space to the current Pualeilani Atrium Shops and reduce the hotel space by 7,600 square feet, according to a draft environmental assessment completed by Honolulu-based Group 70 International for the hotel’s owner, New York-based Blackstone Group.
No construction timeframe was given, although the project will employ 150 construction workers and employ another 200 permanent workers.
The existing shopping center, which was built in the 1970s, is in need of revitalization and the current configuration ignores views of Waikiki Beach and is nearly inaccessible from Kalakaua Avenue, the report said.
The proposed redevelopment will involve the basement, first, second and third floors being reoriented towards Kalakaua Avenue and Waikiki Beach, including a second floor lanai shopping arcade, the addition of a new porte cochere along Koa Avenue, new elevators at the porte corchere that will take visitors directly to the hotel lobby and upper floors and the construction of a new hotel pool deck on the third floor.
The project is expected to better organize and accommodate pedestrian and vehicle circulation along the exterior perimeter of the property, specifically along Kalakaua Avenue and Koa Avenue, the report said.
The Hyatt’s upgrade to its retail center follows Taubman Centers’ redevelopment of the International Market Place not too far away.
About a year ago, Hyatt announced a $100 million renovation to the hotel.
Every one of the hotel’s 1,230 guest rooms will be renovated. The work will be done in phases, three floors at a time, with 54 rooms on each floor.
Blackstone (NYSE: BX) purchased the leasehold interest in the hotel in July 2013 with plans to renovate the property.