The planned closure of the Hawai‘i Convention Center in 2026 for $64 million in repairs to the rooftop terrace deck is now expected to extend into 2027, putting at risk millions of dollars in group tourism bookings.
Teri Orton, general manager of the convention center, said it was originally anticipated that construction would run from January to November 2026, which would close the facility in 2026 to “citywides,” the industry term for events with at least 1,000 guests who are booked at two or more hotels and plan to use center space.
But Orton said that only two contractors responded to the center’s request for proposals, and both said the project was a two-year job due to the discovery of more extensive corrosion and rust from deferred maintenance. She said contractors also pointed out that demolition and debris removal of the center’s fourth-floor roof would take longer than anticipated because it has residential neighbors on one side.
Orton said the center canceled its original request for proposals and issued a new one Tuesday with a construction timeline that runs from Jan. 1, 2026, to Nov. 30, 2027. She said the new proposals are due May 12 and the center is expected to select a contractor and then issue a notice to proceed May 26.
The Hawai‘i Tourism Authority has pledged to keep the center’s 125 employees on the payroll during construction, although some of their duties may change, according to Orton.
Isaac Choy, HTA vice president of finance, said in an email, “We are still utilizing some of our available space during non-construction hours, which is not impacted by the renovations or other building upgrades, to continue to host local events on weekends, holidays, and weekday evenings.”
ECONOMIC IMPACT
Jerry Gibson, president of the Hawai‘i Hotel Alliance, said hoteliers on Oahu were expecting the 12 citywides on the books for 2027 would bring at least 58,000 people to Oahu and fill 104,000 hotel room nights.
“We want to hold on to what we can. If we don’t, that’s a economic value of at least $103 million in all-in economic impact between the rooms, activities, transportation, food and beverage, entertainment and everything, and at least $33.8 million for the rooms alone,” Gibson said.
A major concern, he said, is what will happen to the Rotary International Convention, which Honolulu had planned to host June 5-9, 2027.
Rotary previously planned to hold the event in 2020 in Honolulu, and the lost economic impact made it big news when it was rescheduled to 2027 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. About 20,000 Rotary members from 170 countries were expected to attend the 2020 Honolulu event, which was expected to contribute an estimated $35 million to $40 million to the local economy, according to Rotary.
Orton said Rotary International is too large for Hawaii to accommodate outside of the convention center.
“They don’t feel comfortable with looking at 2028 because they are nervous that our construction may run long given the tariffs and manufacturing delays that might come with this … they don’t feel comfortable running the risk of our two-year (closure) turning into three years,” she said.
Choy said the center has six citywides for 2026 and 12 planned for 2027. HTA didn’t lose any of the 2026 business, he said, as some events moved to future years and others decided to stay in Hawaii and utilize several hotels for meeting space.
“Our goal is to retain as much business in Hawaii as possible,” Choy said. “We are committed to working with hotel partners and clients to either shift meetings to hotel venues or reschedule full conferences to dates beyond 2027.”
Orton said four out of the 12 groups the center contacted about the 2027 closure have committed to move to other venues in the state or to return to Hawaii in future years.
“HTA won’t know what the economic impact will be until we complete this process,” Choy said. “Some may select whether to stay in Hawaii or move to a future date, in which (case) we will not see any loss of revenue.”
Gibson said the local hotel industry will do “everything we can” to support keeping the 2026 and 2027 large convention center business in Hawaii.
“The events were already planned so we have the room space at the hotels, but it will depend on if we have the available ballroom and meeting space,” he said.
CLOSURE TIME
Orton said one small glimmer of light is that 2026 and 2027 were lower volume years. During a good year, she explained, there would already be 15 or 16 citywides on the books at this time, which would put the center in reach of meeting the ideal annual goal of 25 or more.
According to Orton, the center now is working on maximizing the closure period by requesting additional funding to fast-track 15 other projects that were already approved as part of the center’s six-year capital improvements plan, especially those that address additional leaks outside of the rooftop terrace deck that have encroached on the parking garage and even from time to time caused flooding at the loading dock.
Choy said that as of the July 1 start of the coming fiscal year, about $73.66 million will be available to address deferred repairs and maintenance at the convention center. This includes an initial cash balance of $9.64 million budgeted for that purpose.
He added that the Legislature is considering appropriating $52 million in construction funding and $12.02 million from the Convention Center Enterprise Special Fund.
While 2025 is a strong year for citywides largely because of events that were rescheduled during the pandemic, Orton said the convention center already is behind its citywide targets for 2027 and beyond, so further construction disruptions could take a deeper toll.
Gibson said he is hopeful that lawmakers and HTA will support Orton’s request to address deferred maintenance and consider allocating additional money to the rooftop project if the protracted timeline increases the cost.
“They need to really take a look at requests for allocations because this could affect Hawaii’s visitor industry by hundreds of millions of dollars, ” he said.
Keith Vieira, principal of KV & Associates, Hospitality Consulting, who was one of HTA’s original board members, said the transient accommodations tax was created to fund marketing and to support the center.
“There’s a billion dollars coming in every year from TAT so they should do what is necessary to get our convention center back up to a world-class ranking,” Vieira said. “We need a world-class convention center to be competitive.”
Vieira said the group travel market is important in the mix of visitors coming to Hawaii, as these travelers create a base of business that compresses the market.
“The convention hotels fill up and the hotels that don’t have conventions fill up with leisure travelers because the bigger hotels are full,” he said. “Convention travelers tend to be higher-spending and they also often make pre- and post-trips to the neighbor islands.”
STALLED REPAIRS
Repairing the rooftop, which was designed to allow the center to expand, has been a complicated process filled with expensive studies and mired by changing construction codes and political whims.
The rooftop deck repairs were postponed for years because funding was tied to a legislative mandate to build a Center for Hawaiian Music and Dance on top of the convention center’s rooftop terrace, and it took a law change to move forward.
Officials at the center requested about $27 million from the Legislature in 2017 to fix the rooftop deck, which was a problem even before the facility opened. However, legislators did not approve the improvements, which consultant Allana Buick & Bers Inc. said in 2012 were needed by 2017.
Repairs and the cost to fix the problems have been mounting at the center for some time. For years, water has been penetrating the rooftop terrace deck, causing water leaks into other parts of the building where there are now cracks, rust and calcium leaching from the concrete. Mold and mildew are a constant worry.
Orton said the final ceremony for the 2023 Kawaii Kon anime convention was taking place when rain penetrated the third-floor ceiling, forcing staff to put out plastic bins to catch the rain — an embarrassing end to an otherwise successful event that drew some 20,000 attendees.
It wasn’t until 2023 that legislators finally approved $64 million for the center’s rooftop repairs.
As recently as February, heavy rains caused planters at the convention center to leak, forcing the temporary closure of its main garage entrance on Kalakaua Avenue after the ceiling became saturated and a seam started to fall.
“HTA is in the early stages of working with a contractor to assess the necessary repairs and estimate the associated costs (for the emergency repair),” Choy said. “No funds have been expended to date.”
