The developer of the planned King’s Village luxury condominium hotel has shrunk some of its earlier footprint and preserved more of the neighborhood’s ocean and mountain views, but nearby residents attending a Tuesday Waikiki Neighborhood Board meeting gave the project negative reviews.

Members of the partnership between BlackSand Capital LLC, Kobayashi Group and The MacNaughton Group announced plans in April for what was to be a 256-unit condominium hotel, parking deck, retail and office center and small park. The Waikiki Neighborhood Board approved this earlier version of the project, which would raze King’s Village, a retail complex designed to resemble Honolulu around 1900, along with the Prince Edward Apartments and Hale Waikiki.

Keith Kurahashi, who represents the developers, returned to the board Tuesday to share the development group’s decision to reduce the project’s scope to 248 luxury units. They also plan to preserve more Diamond Head and ocean views by removing a 240-foot wing and instead widening the 350-foot portion of the tower.

"The previous project had a portion that would have blocked a portion of Diamond Head, which is now clear. The building does shrink by 8 feet so views from the 20th floor and below also will be improved by this new design," said Kurahashi, who added that in keeping with the planned development process, the developer is offering $1 million in public benefits to offset requested exemptions including height, density and setbacks.

Kurahashi said the benefits would fund Waikiki Beach replenishment, homeless services, Americans with Disabilities Act improvements, and 24-hour public restrooms. Proponents of the project favor these benefits as well as the project’s potential to increase the tax base while creating jobs and creating additional accommodations for tourists. They say the current King’s Village, which has deferred maintenance, lacks a Hawaiian sense of place and hasn’t drawn adequate retail traffic for years. Also, transforming an underutilized resource will improve neighborhood aesthetics and upgrade the visitor experience, they say.

The project met with little resistance when it was introduced last spring and supported by the Waikiki Neighborhood Board. At that time, board member Helen Carroll cast the lone dissenting vote on the King’s Village project, saying that limits need to be enforced in Waikiki, where she contends that building and density are out of control.

But while the new plan reduces the length, width and unit count of the planned tower, this time around there was less tolerance from Waikiki residents. They don’t want to see any more developers approach City Hall with plans to exceed Waikiki’s height and density limits and setback restrictions. Many are still bitter that the City Council approved exemptions for Trump Hotel Waikiki, which opened in 2009, and the two Ritz-Carlton Residences Waikiki towers currently under construction. They say it’s enough that Outrigger Enterprises Group also is seeking an exemption for a new tower to be built at the Outrigger Reef Hotel.

"We are joining forces to try to fight or delay the destruction of King’s Village and the construction of another wall being allowed to be constructed in front of the Hyatt’s right tower," said Denise Boisvert-Jorgensen, a Governor Cleghorn condominium resident, who estimates that more than 150 people in her surrounding neighborhood are opposed to this latest project, which also blocks most of the views for owners in the Waikiki Skytower.

Boisvert-Jorgensen said the project will add density to an already tight block, block residential views and further the trend of building condominium hotels in lieu of full-service hotels, which employ more workers.

Irene Chun, who owns an 11th-floor unit in the Governor Cleghorn, said the new plan blocks her ocean view.

"This is the biggest asset that I have and I depend on that for my retirement," she said. "I’m not here to prevent other people from making money, but I hope that you understand that I’m one of those residents in Hawaii that needs protection." 

Others, like Leonhard Nicolai, also are concerned that the developer’s offer to contribute $1 million for causes such as sand replenishment and homelessness isn’t a high-enough premium for waiving the rules on a high-grossing project. "All these benefits are gifts to the city. All of these gifts are because you want one exemption after another," Nicolai said "Either we have rules or we don’t. If we have rules than stick with them."

Waikiki-based real estate consultant Stephany Sofos agreed, saying the guidelines "were put in place for the good of all Waikiki."

Waikiki Neighborhood Board member Jeff Merz, an urban planner, told project opponents that the board appreciated their input, but that the planning process for the project was already underway so they would need to put their comments into the city’s public record.