New Hilton Hawaiian Village Ala Moana tower gets approval to proceed

[h2oflyboy]

The main bus lines in the area on the stop on Halekauwila go down one way streets; Punchbowl and South Street and they are pretty far apart. The bus loading zone would need to be on Punchbowl coming from the airport. However, there also would need to be a bus unloading to get on the rail on South Street. The point that I am making is that coming from the airport and going to the airport by a rail/bus or bus/rail combination will not be an easy get right off one and get right on the other system with luggage since they are not right there. There will be alot of walking that would not be needed if the rail went near to where the people are living or staying.

Unless you are traveling light - 1 small carry on is all you get on The Bus. Any Combo of HART to The Bus will not work if you are carrying 2 items or LARGE bags.

TheBus New

 

[Tamaradarann]

Unless you are traveling light - 1 small carry on is all you get on The Bus. Any Combo of HART to The Bus will not work if you are carrying 2 items or LARGE bags.

TheBus New

You are right in theory and in your quote of the actual rule and my husband has been refused entrance to a bus since his shopping bag was toooo big many years ago, however, lately they have been allowing large suitcases in addition to a carry on. The new 20 buses which go to the airport have been built with space to allow for large suitcases to be stored in the isle in a single seat section. I think the point is, and Honolulu gets it, if you want people to use public transportation to go to and from the airport rather than a car then you have to say yes to some reasonable amount of luggage.

 

[h2oflyboy]

You are right in theory and in your quote of the actual rule and my husband has been refused entrance to a bus since his shopping bag was toooo big many years ago, however, lately they have been allowing large suitcases in addition to a carry on. The new 20 buses which go to the airport have been built with space to allow for large suitcases to be stored in the isle in a single seat section. I think the point is, and Honolulu gets it, if you want people to use public transportation to go to and from the airport rather than a car then you have to say yes to some reasonable amount of luggage.

I work at the airport (40 years) and I question your use of the phrase, “reasonable amount of luggage”

I point to this article from today.

Passenger checks 75 bags while flying out from New York’s JFK airport

You think you've seen it all, and then you see a passenger check 75 bags while flying out from New York's JFK airport - but it's for a very good reason

supercarblondie.com

36 stops to Waikiki!

 

[Cyberc]

Does anyone know if any of the units in the new building will be HGV ts?

Assuming the majority if not all of the standard rooms are studio size units, I dont know if many people can fit into those. Normally HGV only allows 2 in the studios.

 

[1Kflyerguy]

Does anyone know if any of the units in the new building will be HGV ts?

Assuming the majority if not all of the standard rooms are studio size units, I dont know if many people can fit into those. Normally HGV only allows 2 in the studios.

From what I recall from the original press release, this new tower will be 100% hotel. I believe they highlighted the fact that it had been a long time since they last added new hotel rooms to the resort.

 

[muscae]

The main bus lines in the area on the stop on Halekauwila go down one way streets; Punchbowl and South Street and they are pretty far apart. The bus loading zone would need to be on Punchbowl coming from the airport. However, there also would need to be a bus unloading to get on the rail on South Street. The point that I am making is that coming from the airport and going to the airport by a rail/bus or bus/rail combination will not be an easy get right off one and get right on the other system with luggage since they are not right there. There will be alot of walking that would not be needed if the rail went near to where the people are living or staying.

You are assuming that what the bus service is now, will still be the bus service after the rail station opens. When the current operating rail stations opened, every single one of them had a corresponding modification to the bus service in the area.

I think you will see a modification when the rail station opens in 2045, so that you won't have to walk a block to the bus. 2045 is not a typo, my estimate. Let's hope it opens sooner.

 

[Tamaradarann]

You are assuming that what the bus service is now, will still be the bus service after the rail station opens. When the current operating rail stations opened, every single one of them had a corresponding modification to the bus service in the area.

I think you will see a modification when the rail station opens in 2045, so that you won't have to walk a block to the bus. 2045 is not a typo, my estimate. Let's hope it opens sooner.

I don't plan on riding any bus by 2045. If we still around we will be in our lat 90's. What I said above is true for then next phase in the 2030s.

 

[ljmiii]

I don't plan on riding any bus by 2045…

I’m counting on seeing you on Da Bus after we move to Honolulu. Ideally grumbling about how the young whipper snappers don’t realize how easy they’ve got it

 

[Tamaradarann]

I’m counting on seeing you on Da Bus after we move to Honolulu. Ideally grumbling about how the young whipper snappers don’t realize how easy they’ve got it

Well we live at the Wailana at Waikiki which is right across the street from the Hilon Hawaiian village. When you get here just send a note on one of the threads that I am commenting on and we can meet up someplace in Waikiki. The 2,8,13, 20,42,& E all stop either right outside or at the other end on Ena. We ride them all frequently, but we do ride other buses from time to time to go anywhere on Oahu that you want.

However, I don't feel that the young whipper snappers have it easy. Being young is great and we wish we were young and could do it over and not make the same mistakes. But first of all the young still have to work; we don't. We have been retired since 2009. They have to deal with prices that are so much higher than we did to buy a house or condo. We bought our house on Long Island in 1977 for 32K.

 

[dandjane1]

The utilities are not that deep. They will just bore under them. How do you think they are building the 2nd Ave. subway in NYC? There isn't more utilities in Honolulu than NYC.

As I recall, the Tokyo subway(s) are several different levels below the plethora of utilities at upper level. Necessary, because there are several subway companies.

 

[brp]

As I recall, the Tokyo subway(s) are several different levels below the plethora of utilities at upper level. Necessary, because there are several subway companies.

Yup. The Tokyo subway map looks like a circuit board routing diagram. Has to be several levels. Just like NYC.

Cheers.

 

[TUGBrian]

anyone have a link to where it mentions if this is an all hotel room tower, or will it have timeshare units?

 

[WaikikiFirst]

anyone have a link

A quick search for the public hearing came up with this which specifically mentions "hotel" rooms. IDK if we'd call that legally-binding.

0001478903-01 | Hawaii's State Legals & Public Notices

DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND PERMITTING PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN of a public hearing to be held by the Department of Planning and Permitting of the City and County of Honolulu under Revised Ordinances of Honolulu (ROH) Sections 21-2.40-2, relating to Major Permits, and...

statelegals.staradvertiser.com

 

[WaikikiFirst]

the "maximum floor area ratio of four" is interesting. If it is 36 stories tall, does that mean that the lot is 9x the SqFt of a floor? Or do the commercial SqFt not count? The lot really seems more like a postage stamp than 9x bigger than a "tower".

From square one: "515 hotel units and 6,051 square feet of retail space" so about 14 rooms/ floor, and if each room were 500 sqft, it'd have 258K sqft. An acre is about 44K sqft, so about 6 acres worth of hotel rooms? So at 4:1, the lot is 1.5 acres? Well, ya, 1.5 acres is like a postage stamp to build that tower? Did I screw it up?

 

[TUGBrian]

I was told this was a timeshare site and there would not be any math/geometry questions!

 

[amycurl]

I was told there would be no. math.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[dayooper]

I was told this was a timeshare site and there would not be any math/geometry questions!

I was told there would be no. math.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

You all lied to me! @TUGBrian suckered me in with talk of resale and then @GT75 made me use all of these formulas to figure out MF/point, cost of ownership and the like. Next thing you know we will be making spreadsheets to track our points usage and figuring out which property has the best value per point! I'm right with you, Amy, this has gotten mathematically crazy.

 

[brp]

Although, as an engineer, I find maths (and spreadsheets) to be my friends.

Cheers.

 

[1Kflyerguy]

anyone have a link to where it mentions if this is an all hotel room tower, or will it have timeshare units?

This article from January states that Hilton has not added any hotel rooms to HHV since 2001. I recall seeing news reports that stated all hotel rooms were affected, but I couldn't find links to those reports right now.

Also, the fact that it's being built by Park Hotels, the big REIT that was spun out of Hilton, and owns and manages hotels would support the hotel-only option. That said, plans can change as market conditions change.

 

[WaikikiFirst]

From square one: "515 hotel units and 6,051 square feet of retail space" so about 14 rooms/ floor, and if each room were 500 sqft, it'd have 258K sqft.

a quick look on hilton.com says that std 1-bdrm HOTEL rooms in HHV range from < 350 sqft to maybe 475 sqft. I thought the 500 sqft was high but just winged it with round #. So, say avg hotel rm = 2/3 of 500 sqft. That flows thry the equation & woould mean the lot is 2/3 of 1.5 acres, so only 1.0 acres.

 

[WaikikiFirst]

Although, as an engineer, THEN A MIRACLE OCCURS.

That may be my fav cartoon of all time. LOL. You cannot imagine how many times in my life that cartoon popped into my head when I heard or read someone postulating something outlandish, or at least highly speculative. So many times.

 

[WaikikiFirst]

This article from January states that Hilton has not added any hotel rooms to HHV since 2001

OK, anyone / everyone who has been to HHV recently tell us how many CLOSED or "CLOSING" commercial businesses you saw within HHV. I think I was there in February and I saw at least 6 I think. Hotel guests are far more likely to spend $$ at the shops and restaurants than TS guests are. The issues I see:
A) the "public" should have made them build a nice pedestrian overpass over AMBlvd as part of this project. I'm sure Hilton prefers the guests stay on the HHV side of AMB though
B) will these 515 rooms have their own GYM and maybe a POOL. The single GYM in HHV could become a disaster if it has to service another 250 people per day

 

[brp]

That may be my fav cartoon of all time. LOL. You cannot imagine how many times in my life that cartoon popped into my head when I heard or read someone postulating something outlandish, or at least highly speculative. So many times.

Of course, today's speculative is tomorrow's breakthrough. I'm looking at you quantum physics (and the most recent Nobel Prize in Physics).

Cheers.

 

[Tamaradarann]

You are correct. Back in 2009 when I heard about the rail plan I said why are they starting out in the middle of no where? The rail needs to be to go to where people go everyday; where the jobs are which is DownTown Honolulu, the Ala Moana Mall, and Waikiki. The plan at that time to go to Downtown Honolulu and Ala Moana Mall but starting way out west in Kapolei. So they started out in Kapolei and 16 years later it is just getting to the airport next month. So people can get to the airport but only from the west; the vast majority of people who go to the airport live and stay East of the airport!! They wonder why the ridership is so low well it will always be low if it doesn't go from where people live and stay to where people need to go frequently.

So now the plan is to eventually get to Downtown Honolulu in a few more years and start to be useful in reducing the slow commute from the West into the Downtown. The plan to go to Ala Moana is on hold for now. There will be major stuggles getting to Downtown since it is dense with buildings, utilities, burial sites, historic artifacts. The traffic will be bad while they are doing the work between Airport and Downtown over the next 5 years since they are closing lanes of traffic.

We usually have too much luggage to take the bus to the airport but did ride the bus to and from the airport the other day from Waikiki without luggage It was a nice ride of about an hour for free for us since we have an annual pass. When the rail eventally does get to Downtown Honolulu or the Ala Moana Mall and you have to take a bus and then change to the rail to get to the airport I don't know how much of time saving that will be and with luggage it will still be a stuggle to get on and off both transportation systems. We will see how that will work out sometime in the 2030s.

The ridership is a few thousand a day right now. I just head Honolulu Mayor Blangiardi on TV the other day being so positive about the next stage with projected raising the riidership to 25,000 per day; we will see how that will work since it won't be getting to downtown Honolulu until the 2030s when he stated that the projected ridership will be 85,000 a day. That may be possible so 20 years after staring the rail the ridership will be reasonable and serve the population. However, it still won't be getting near Wailiki where so many people can just take the rail to and from the airport

 

[brp]

That may be possible so 20 years after staring the rail the ridership will be reasonable and serve the population.

Sounds like BART extensions in the Bay Area

Cheers.