Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach, a new hotel brand for the isles, will open this winter in the former Waikiki Trade Center office building.
The conversion of a nearly empty office building into a hotel will add 230 upscale oversize rooms and suites with spa-like bathrooms to Waikiki’s tight hotel market. It also continues Kuhio Avenue improvements, which recently included the opening of the Hilton Garden Inn and the Ritz-Carlton Residences Waikiki Beach.
This latest hotel redevelopment will feature floor-to-ceiling windows, an outdoor pool and entertainment deck, an upscale bar and restaurant, and a 24/7 fitness facility. Upgrades also are being made to the four-story, 400-stall parking garage and to the property’s public spaces. The hotel will begin hiring for both part- and full-time positions in the fall.
“We’re confident that the new Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach, coupled with its central location near the re-imagined International Market Place, will contribute greatly to the revitalization taking place along Kuhio Avenue and, in turn, support the health of Hawaii’s tourism industry,” said Cordell Lietz, president of CoastWood Capital Group, which is developing the project along with Chartres Lodging Group and the New York investment firm KKR.
Joseph Toy, president and CEO of Hospitality Advisors LLC, said more hotel rooms across a greater variety of room categories are needed to revitalize Waikiki.
“We’ve been above 85 percent occupancy in Waikiki for four years, which puts a lot of stress on existing properties and causes a lot of sellout periods,” Toy said. “Now that we are seeing larger gaps in rates between the on-beach and off-beach properties, there’s room for other properties to enter the market.”
The Hyatt Centric brand, which was introduced in 2015, is targeted to millennial travelers, who prefer to be housed in the heart of the destinations they visit. Steve Haggerty, global head of Capital Strategy, Franchising and Select Service, Hyatt Hotels Corp., said in a statement that one of the brand’s missions is to put its “guests at the center of the action in the best destinations in the world.”
Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach and surrounding retailers will bring new life to the heart of Waikiki along Kuhio and Seaside avenues, said Maki Bara, president and co-Founder of Chartres Lodging Group, parent company of Kokua Hospitality, which is the management company for the Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach.
“We’re pleased to provide a compelling lodging option easily allowing both guests and locals to experience all that Waikiki has to offer,” Bara said in a statement.
The adjacent International Market Place redevelopment is slated to open Aug. 25. A 34,000-square-foot, two-level Nordstrom Rack also will open in the former Waikiki Trade Center in the fall. It will be joined by street-level retailers such as Starbucks, Jamba Juice and American Savings Bank.
The redeveloped Waikiki Trade Center, which sits on land belonging to Queen Emma Land Co., will directly support the Queen’s Medical Center, the state’s largest private, nonprofit hospital, said Queen Emma Land Co. President Eric Martinson in a statement.
“The new hotel and adjacent retail will not only deliver a vibrant new addition along Kuhio Avenue, but will also create a sustainable income source to support The Queen’s Medical Center and our mission of providing quality health care to Hawaii’s people,” Martinson said.