The Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. is suing to temporarily halt a $115 million renovation of the Pacific Beach Hotel in Waikiki after two human burials were unearthed below an elevator shaft.

The organization also alleges in the lawsuit filed in state court Friday that the state Department of Land and Natural Resources subverted a Hawaii law established to protect Native Hawaiian burials.

NHLC filed the lawsuit on behalf of Paulette Kaleikini, an Oahu resident who has been involved in other cases protecting Hawaiian burial remains, or iwi. Kaleikini is also a recognized cultural descendant of Hawaiians who long ago lived in the area where the hotel was built in the 1960s.

“She is very concerned that more kupuna (ancestors) will be impacted should the project continue without a proper survey,” the legal organization said in a statement.

Kaleikini’s suit contends that DLNR’s State Historic Preservation Division initially requested that an archaeological inventory survey be done as a condition of receiving a building permit for some of the work, which began last year and was to include excavating 5 to 8 feet down to accommodate utilities and other things.

But the suit claims the Historic Preservation Division reversed its decision after meeting with hotel representatives and despite Waikiki being a known spot for Hawaiian burials that deserve protection.

The lawsuit calls the hotel property a “burial site for Native Hawaiians during lengthy precontact and post-contact periods of time.” However, NHLC officials declined to say if iwi were dug up on the site when the hotel was first developed or when a second tower and a 280,000-gallon saltwater aquarium were added later.

Had such a survey been done prior to the ongoing renovation work, there would be a burial treatment plan that included input from cultural descendents and the Oahu Island Burial Council, NHLC said. But because the survey wasn’t done, the burial council and cultural descendents are cut out of any official process deciding what to do with the remains and any more that might be unearthed.

So Kaleikini is asking a Circuit Court judge to freeze construction work, order that a survey be done and allow the burial council to get involved.

In cases where surveys discover iwi, the burial council typically has jurisdiction to recommend whether iwi — or construction — should be relocated. Native Hawaiian cultural beliefs regard historic unmarked iwi as sacred, though often agreements are made to relocate remains to places where they can be better respected.

Representatives of DLNR and the hotel, managed by an affiliate of global hotel investment firm Highgate, did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. A spokeswoman for the Queen Liliuokalani Trust, which owns the land under the hotel, said a trust official who could talk about the issue was unavailable Wednesday.

The trust, Highgate’s affiliate Koa Management LLC, DLNR and the city’s Department of Planning and Permitting are all named defendants in the case.

Highgate took over management of the Pacific Beach in 2012 for Honolulu-based owner HTH Corp. in a move that helped resolve a decade of legal battles between the hotel and its employees seeking to be represented by a union and a contract.

The renovation work, which is being done while the hotel remains open, included a refurbishing of all 839 guest rooms, which was finished in December. Other phases include renovating the Oceanarium, adding a new pool deck with two pools and two restaurants by celebrity chef Masaharu Morimoto, and improvements to the hotel’s facade and public areas.

The entire project is scheduled to be completed this fall, at which point the property was to be renamed Alohilani Resort, meaning “heavenly brightness.” The new name was selected in honor of Queen Liliu’okalani, who had a home and beachside cottage on land that surrounded what became the hotel site and was named Kealohilani, which means “royal light.”

In an announcement last year, hotel General Manager Rob Robinson said management was committed to honoring the property’s unique history and the Hawaiian culture in a thoughtful and authentic way, serving as the foundation for everything they do, from cultural programming to elevated levels of service.

NHLC declined to say whether hotel management consulted with the burial council or cultural descendants to the area before renovation work began.