HONOLULU — The Outrigger Reef on the Beach in Waikiki would gain a 350-foot hotel tower and meeting space under a proposal by Outrigger Enterprises Group, which wants the project to be the fifth new tower of its size planned for Waikiki.
Preliminary plans call for construction of a 31- or 32-story, 200-room tower near the Outrigger Reef, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Wednesday.
Preliminary renderings have been submitted to the Department of Planning and Zoning, according to Outrigger president and CEO David Carey. The approval process would include an environmental assessment.
Carey said he believes the planned tower’s height and density were approved as part of plans submitted in 2003. Waikiki Neighborhood Board chairman Bob Finley said he expects the City Council to approve the height variance.
Revitalization plans also include the demolition of structures, including an existing five-story Diamond Head Tower, and the Shorebird and Ocean House restaurants, which would be replaced.
The demolition would make way for parking and several one-story structures to include meeting space and a ballroom. The project also calls for 34,000 square feet of open recreation space, with gardens, swimming pools and lounging space cascading to the beach, Carey said.
“We are trying to downscale the impact at the beach,” he said. “Right now, we’ve got a five-story building looming over the beach. It would essentially be replaced with a one-story restaurant complex, rising 23 feet above sea level at its highest point.”
Permits and entitlements are expected to be completed in about three years. Construction would begin in 2017, with completion slated for 2019.
The city shouldn’t be too quick to approve variances, said Mark Harpenau, an owner of the Four Paddle condominium and a member of the Waikiki Area Residents Association. It’s wrong for developers to build view-blocking towers, he said.
“It’s like going to a sporting event where everyone is standing up in the front row and no one in the back row can see,” Harpenau said.