Here is the website for the Waikiki Edition Hotel that is supposed to open at the Yacht Harbor Tower (which for over 40 years was part of our Ilikai):

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/hnleb-the-waikiki-edition/

Pacific Business News of June 7, 2010 reported that Waikiki Edition hotel is scheduled to open in October 2010 (click on the link to read it). 

That is in the Yacht Harbor Tower, which for over 40 years was an integral part of our Ilikai.

The article gives some more details on the plans there, including plans for “an exclusive Crazybox nightclub, as well as a full-service spa, outdoor movie theater and ballroom.”

The Marriott Hotel Services is in the process of obtaining a liquor license for the Yacht Harbor Tower.  They are scheduled to present their case at the upcoming meeting of the Waikiki Neighborhood Board tomorrow, April 13, 2010, at 310 Paoakalani Avenue 7:00-9:30 PM.  Click here to view the agenda for the meeting.  The “Liquor License for Former Yacht Harbor Tower at the Ilikai” item is listed on the agenda for 9:05 PM.  Generally, they stick with the agenda’s timeline, so attendees interested in certain items do not necessarily need to be there for the entire meeting.

Then the next step would be a public hearing held by the Liquor Commission regarding this application.  This hearing is scheduled for Thursday, April 22, 2010 at 4 PM, at the office of the Commission on the 6^th floor of the Pacific Park Plaza, 711 Kapiolani Blvd, Honolulu, HI 96813.  Click here to view the Notice of Public Hearing regarding this Liquor License application.

A couple of comments re this.  This application is for the upcoming Edition Hotel that is scheduled to open at the Yacht Harbor Tower.  There is A LOT of excitement and enthusiasm about the Edition Hotel.  It is terrific news and we look forward to this!

Having said that, one needs to consider practical issues and learn lessons from what is happening now on the Hilton Hawaiian Village side of the Ilikai.  For over a year already, hundreds of Ilikai owners and visitors on that side have been victims of the terrible noise coming from the Hilton Luau.  Following numerous complaints to the Liquor Commission, the Commission’s investigators measured the noise level, documented that it was over permitted levels, cited Hilton, and Hilton paid some fines (a drop in a bucket by their standards).  The luau and noise continue.  Multiple Ilikai owners tried for months to convince the previous Board of Directors of the AOAO to intervene.  That Board’s position was, “It is your personal problem.”  How could it be a personal problem when it is affecting 1/3 of the building?  We don’t know yet the position of the current Board (the new Board is of March 2010).  With the new Board there is new hope.

Back to the YHT: One could look into making sure this liquor license has certain parameters.  It is much easier to prevent this type of problems than to try to solve them later on.  But if you are an Ilikai owner on the Harbor side and counting on the Board of Directors and the AOAO legal counsel to take care of this and to protect your interests while you can sit back and relax, then, in my opinion, you are living in a fantasy world.

From what I hear, some Ilikai owners are planning to attend both the Waikiki Neighborhood Board and the Liquor Commission meetings.  You may be able to car-pool.

Today we (Ilikai owners that is) had a really interesting Meet and Greet meeting with two senior executives from the Edition Hotel that is planned to open at the Yacht Harbor Tower.  Lots of information.  I took good notes and will post a summary in the next couple days (time permitting).

Here is something interesting and exciting coming up.  Representatives of the Edition Hotel planned to be opened at the adjacent Yacht Harbor Tower have scheduled a Meet and Greet Meeting with Ilikai owners.

The notice posted at the Ilikai states:

Notice Waikiki Edition Meet and Greet

Tuesday, January 26, 2010, Courtyard (or Kauai Room if raining) 5:30 PM

“Dan Flannery, Managing Director of Edition Hotels and Michael Rock, General Manager of The Waikiki Edition Hotel would like to invite all owners to meet their new neighbors and learn more about The Waikiki Edition.  This would be an excellent opportunity to voice any concerns or have questions answered about the new hotel.”

I am planning to attend and will report on this website what we learn.  Be there!

According to some some blogs, “the red-headed love child of Ian Schrager and Bill Marriott, Edition, the duo’s new boutique hotel brand, will debut its Waikiki location in mid-2010, with a Studio 54 and Iron Chef Masahara Morimoto’s first Hawaii restaurant.” 

From what we have been hearing, Edition is supposed to be at the Yacht Harbor Tower, and so is Morimoto’s restaurant (we actually have a copy of the Morimoto restaurant’s contract).  This is the first time I’ve heard about plans for a Studio 54.  (It’s a night club, there is one, for ex., in Las Vegas, at MGM Grand.)

Here is a media report on the Edition Hotel to be opened at the adjacent Yacht Harbor Tower.  (For those not familiar with its history, Yacht Harbor Tower was developed by the Ilikai’s original developer, Chinn Ho, as an annex to the Ilikai.)  The Morimoto restaurant is expected to be located in the area where the wedding chapel used to be, fronting the ocean.  They are also planning to add a VIP Pool with Sky Bar.  Those are to be located on the upper deck adjacent to the Ilikai tower.  It is really exciting that we will have this as our neighbors, something to look forward to.  With that said, man, they still have problems to solve.  The fact that they still do not have their liquor license is just one.  But there are also questions whether or not certain county requirements have been fulfilled.  Often, in these situations, it just takes some unhappy third-party contestant to derail things.

As we reported a couple months ago, eRealty is planning to set up two pools at the adjacent Yacht Harbor Tower (YHT).  One pool will be a modification of the existing one, where it used to be for many years, with a new Bar.  On the picture below, this is the area with the green-looking pool, on the left (the picture is outdated, there is no water in that pool now).  The other pool – VIP Pool, along with Sky Bar – is planned to be developed on the upper deck, i.e., the area on top of the ballrooms, with a winding stair case to it from the lower level pool deck. (P.S.: A clarification for visitors: the area pictured looks neglected because it has been subject to renovation for over two years. That area used to be part of the Ilikai complex, from the days it was developed by Chinn Ho in the 1960s till 2006 when Anekona split it. Yacht Harbor Tower was not developed as a stand-alone property, but rather as an annex to the main Ilikai Tower; and they still have ways to go to become a stand-alone property, incl. a need to build their own loading dock, refuse system, liquor license, etc.)

So what is the status of that VIP pool?  The latest we heard from a reliable external source about two weeks ago is that eRealty’s contractors are half way finished with beam installation at the side below the VIP Pool, i.e., the re-enforcement.

No word yet re eRealty’s application for a liquor license.