Kahala Hotel & Resort
The Kahala Hotel & Resort
5000 Kahala Avenue
Honolulu, Hawaii
In 1959 real estate developer Charlie Pietsch Jr obtained a long term land lease on the 6 1/2 acre hotel site from Bishop Estate. Being a member of Bishop's Trust Executive Committee helped! With Waialae lease in hand, Pietsch puts together a 50/50 deal with his acquaintance Conrad Hilton. Pietsch signed a contract with Hilton International to operate the proposed 10 story hotel.
Pietsch suggested the name The Kahala Hilton because Waialae was too hard to pronounce and spell. Architects were Killingsworth, Brady, and Smith of Long Beach. The groundbreaking of the 368-room Kahala was in 1962 and the resort opened in 1964 with a $26 rate. The construction of the hotel resulted in Waialae Country Club to redesign several of its golf course holes. The resort used the post-and-beam construction on a grand scale that became one of Killingsworth’s hallmarks. More than 100 coconut palms were planted. 18,000 yards of fine sand were barged from Molokai island to pad the beach front. The resort cost $12 million to build. Killingsworth and his firm also designed the Halekulani Hotel, the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and the Kapalua Bay Hotel.
In 1968 Charles Pietsch sold his half of The Kahala to TWA, the owner of Hilton International, for $16.5 million.
1973 - TWA/Hilton International sells its shares in the hotel to mortgage holder Massachusetts Mutual life, but retains
management contract. Massachusetts Mutual Life sells its shares to MEPC, one of the largest property development
companies in the world at a price of over $20 million. In 1977 William Weinberg initiates a plan to buy the hotel for a price between $26 and $28 million. The contract takes two years to negotiate before closing the deal in May 1977. William Weinberg (WKH Corp.) owned the Kahala Hilton hotel from 1977 to 1993, this investment was most near and dear to his heart.
In 1993, WKH Corp. sold the 6.5 acre resort to an investment group then headed by isle developer Bill Mills after an arbitration panel raised the resort's annual lease rent from $96,000 a year to $5.6 million a year. Bishop Estate had proposed an annual rent of $13.5 million while WKH offered to pay $1.3 million a year. Japan-based Kahala Royal Corp. (Katsumi Iida) and local developer Bill Mills paid an estimated $50 million.
In 1996 the hotel was renamed Kahala Mandarin Oriental after a 40 percent investment by Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. The Mandarin Oriental Group took over management, lasting until 2005
In 2005 Kahala Royal Corp., the Hawai'i firm owned by Katsumi Iida, paid $97 million to Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group for its 40 percent stake in the hotel on land leased from the Kamehameha Schools. Trinity Investments of Honolulu bought the hotel for $175 million in 2006 and rebranded it "The Kahala." Trinity is owned by California hotelier Chuck Sweeney and attorney Jon Miho of Honolulu.
In August 2014 - The Kahala Hotel & Resort was sold to Japanese-based Resorttrust Inc. for $300 million, which equates to $887,000 per room, the highest per-room price ever paid for an Oahu hotel property. Resorttrust will use the hotel as part of its time-share network. The new owner plans to retain Landmark Hotels Inc., the Trinity affiliate that took over management of the hotel in March 2006. All employees are expected to be retained by Resorttrust, which will assume the collective bargaining agreement between the hotel and UNITE HERE! Local 5.
Kahala Hotel & Resort
The Kahala Hotel & Resort
5000 Kahala Avenue
Honolulu, Hawaii
In 1959 real estate developer Charlie Pietsch Jr obtained a long term land lease on the 6 1/2 acre hotel site from Bishop Estate. Being a member of Bishop's Trust Executive Committee helped! With Waialae lease in hand, Pietsch puts together a 50/50 deal with his acquaintance Conrad Hilton. Pietsch signed a contract with Hilton International to operate the proposed 10 story hotel.
Pietsch suggested the name The Kahala Hilton because Waialae was too hard to pronounce and spell. Architects were Killingsworth, Brady, and Smith of Long Beach. The groundbreaking of the 368-room Kahala was in 1962 and the resort opened in 1964 with a $26 rate. The construction of the hotel resulted in Waialae Country Club to redesign several of its golf course holes. The resort used the post-and-beam construction on a grand scale that became one of Killingsworth’s hallmarks. More than 100 coconut palms were planted. 18,000 yards of fine sand were barged from Molokai island to pad the beach front. The resort cost $12 million to build. Killingsworth and his firm also designed the Halekulani Hotel, the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and the Kapalua Bay Hotel.
In 1968 Charles Pietsch sold his half of The Kahala to TWA, the owner of Hilton International, for $16.5 million.
1973 - TWA/Hilton International sells its shares in the hotel to mortgage holder Massachusetts Mutual life, but retains
management contract. Massachusetts Mutual Life sells its shares to MEPC, one of the largest property development
companies in the world at a price of over $20 million. In 1977 William Weinberg initiates a plan to buy the hotel for a price between $26 and $28 million. The contract takes two years to negotiate before closing the deal in May 1977. William Weinberg (WKH Corp.) owned the Kahala Hilton hotel from 1977 to 1993, this investment was most near and dear to his heart.
In 1993, WKH Corp. sold the 6.5 acre resort to an investment group then headed by isle developer Bill Mills after an arbitration panel raised the resort's annual lease rent from $96,000 a year to $5.6 million a year. Bishop Estate had proposed an annual rent of $13.5 million while WKH offered to pay $1.3 million a year. Japan-based Kahala Royal Corp. (Katsumi Iida) and local developer Bill Mills paid an estimated $50 million.
In 1996 the hotel was renamed Kahala Mandarin Oriental after a 40 percent investment by Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. The Mandarin Oriental Group took over management, lasting until 2005
In 2005 Kahala Royal Corp., the Hawai'i firm owned by Katsumi Iida, paid $97 million to Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group for its 40 percent stake in the hotel on land leased from the Kamehameha Schools. Trinity Investments of Honolulu bought the hotel for $175 million in 2006 and rebranded it "The Kahala." Trinity is owned by California hotelier Chuck Sweeney and attorney Jon Miho of Honolulu.
In August 2014 - The Kahala Hotel & Resort was sold to Japanese-based Resorttrust Inc. for $300 million, which equates to $887,000 per room, the highest per-room price ever paid for an Oahu hotel property. Resorttrust will use the hotel as part of its time-share network. The new owner plans to retain Landmark Hotels Inc., the Trinity affiliate that took over management of the hotel in March 2006. All employees are expected to be retained by Resorttrust, which will assume the collective bargaining agreement between the hotel and UNITE HERE! Local 5.