Redevelopment planned for Paradise Cove Luau

One of Hawaii’s oldest and most popular tourist attractions, Paradise Cove Luau, is slated for redevelopment by the owner of the oceanfront site in West Oahu.

James Campbell Co. plans to replace the luau venue at Ko Olina Resort &Marina with a new complex estimated to cost more than $60 million and feature a nightly luau plus restaurants and retail spread out over the 11-acre property.

The company envisions redevelopment work beginning in 2023 when an existing lease to Paradise Cove’s operator ends, followed by a 2025 opening of the new complex, dubbed The Cove at Ko Olina, if government approvals can be obtained without major issues.

Campbell Co. recently filed an environmental impact statement preparation notice with the city Department of Planning and Permitting, and would need a variety of approvals including a new special management area permit and a conditional use permit for the property, which is zoned for commercial use and has been the site of a luau catering to tourists since 1979.

Steve Kelly, president of the Kapolei properties division of Campbell Co., said the revitalization project is expected to draw visitors to a nightly entertainment show focused on Hawaiian culture while also broadening use of the property at other times with retail and dining options that attract visitors and residents.

“We’re excited about it,” he said. “We feel this special property’s next chapter is as a contemporary gathering place allowing for unique entertainment, dining and retail experiences that embrace Hawaiian culture and respect the history of the place.”

The site fronting a public beach in a natural cove was once the home of Alice Kamokilaikawai Campbell, daughter of businessman James Campbell, who bought 41,000 acres in West Oahu in 1877 and later leased much of the real estate to sugar cane plantations that were replaced in more recent decades by urban development including Oahu’s “second city” of Kapolei and Ko Olina.

After Alice Campbell’s death in 1971, Paradise Cove Luau was established on about half the site by local entertainment producer Roy Tokujo in 1979. Tokujo’s company later expanded the operation and then sold it in 1991 to a development firm that was then in an early stage of establishing a resort with hotels, homes, four man-made lagoons and a boat marina on adjacent land acquired from Campbell’s estate.

James Campbell Co., successor to Campbell Estate, said in its notice filed with the city that the existing luau venue was last enhanced in the 1990s with a wedding chapel and is outdated.

PC Services Inc., led by Keith Horita, operates Paradise Cove under a land lease that was extended in 2019 and runs until mid-2023. The business reopened in February after a shutdown last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Kelly said redevelopment is expected to include two to three restaurants, around 8,000 to 10,000 square feet of retail and an open marketplace that adheres to a current limitation to maintain 70% of the property as open space.

“We don’t envision a huge densification of the property,” he said. “It needs to be a pretty low-density use of the property.”

Campbell Co. estimates that 490 permanent jobs will be established on-site at the Cove. Prior to COVID-19, Paradise Cove employed a little over 200 people, and has drawn around 300,000 visitors a year to its luau, which can accommodate about 1,000 guests a night.