Makaha Valley Resort hotel to be torn down

The shuttered 173-room Makaha Valley Resort hotel will be demolished this month by the golf course company that took over the property through foreclosure earlier this year.

Pacific Links Hawaii held a ceremony Thursday to bless the site before it is cleared.

The company, which plans to spend $30 million redoing its Makaha West golf course next year, said it is seeking a partner to possibly re-establish a resort on the site.

The hotel once known as the Sheraton Makaha was developed with a golf course in 1969 by island financier Chinn Ho but had long struggled financially under different owners.

Pacific Links, which also owns the adjacent Makaha East golf course, got involved with the hotel by lending the hotel’s former owner, Canada-based Northwynd Resort Properties Ltd., $6.8 million as part of a plan to renovate the property and convert units for sale as time shares.

Northwynd could not completely finance its plan, and closed the hotel in October 2011 in a move that put 95 people out of work. Pacific Links filed a foreclosure lawsuit last year to take over the hotel property that secured its loan.

Pacific Links said the hotel’s foundation and infrastructure could not support a complete renovation. The company said the golf clubhouse will not be part of the demolition.

All salvageable items, including rattan furniture, were donated to the Salvation Army.

ENLARGE CHART