Ko Olina Resort

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Ko Olina Resort is a 642-acre (2.60 km²) master-planned vacation and residential community on the leeward coast of Oahu, 17 miles (27 km) west of Honolulu.^[1] Ko Olina has 2 miles (3.2 km) of coastal frontage and includes three natural and four man-made lagoons with white-sand beaches. The master-planned resort community, owned by Honolulu-based The Resort Group, is home to four hotel and vacation-club resorts: Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa, Marriott's Ko Olina Beach Club, the Beach Villas at Ko Olina and The Four Seasons Resort O'ahu at Ko Olina, and villa homes.^[2] Previously, the JW Marriott at Ko Olina occupied The Four Seasons property. An Atlantis Resort, similar to Atlantis Dubai, is currently being designed as an international destination for millennial travelers.^[3] The property is planned to be adjacent to the condominiums located on the Honu lagoon.

Major events hosted at Ko Olina Resort include the LPGA Lotte Championship,^[4] the Ko Olina Children's Film & Music Festival^[5] and the Hawaii Food & Wine Festival.^[6]

Under The Resort Group's ownership, Ko Olina has created a $10B master-planned waterfront community, created over 5,000 jobs and generates approximately $2.5B in economic impacts for the State of Hawaii annually.

History[]

Ko Olina is part of an original royal land division that extended from the waters off Pearl Harbor to the summit of the Waianae Mountains.^[7] The area was a sacred place used for rest and relaxation by Hawaiian chiefs, like Kakuhihewa, and Hawaiian royalty.^[8] Kamehameha the Great and his wife Ka’ahumanu were frequent visitors, bathing in the protected water of its reef-sheltered coves, fishing, and participating in religious ceremonies. Hawaii's last monarch, Lili’uokalani, also came to Ko Olina for time away.^[9]

The industrialist James Campbell helped develop much of the Ewa Plain, where Ko Olina is situated. In the late 1800s, after purchasing 41,000 acres (166 km²) of arid, barren land, he had water wells drilled for irrigation and built a plantation for sugar-cane production. In the 1930s, his daughter Alice Kamokilaikawai Campbell moved to what was then a secluded shore in the area. During World War II, Ms. Campbell allowed her property at Ko Olina, which she called Lanikuhonua (“where heaven meets earth” in Hawaiian), to serve as a recreational retreat for army and navy servicemen.^[10]

In the mid 1980s, Hawaii developer Herbert Horita and his Japanese investment partner, , purchased the Ko Olina Resort property and entitled, designed and built the four man-made lagoons, marina basin, golf course and all infrastructure. After the Japanese real-estate bubble burst in the early 1990s, development at the resort stopped after the completion of the golf course and just one hotel, which was the Ihilani Resort & Spa^[11] and is now the Four Seasons Resort Oahu at Ko Olina.^[12]

In 1998 developer Jeffrey Stone, President of The Resort Group, and partners bought the property from Herbert Horita's lender, The Industrial Bank of Japan, and began its revival.^[13] To date they have added two vacation resorts, Marriott's Ko Olina Beach Club and Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa; villa homes, and the oceanfront Beach Villas at Ko Olina, a luxury condominium.^[14] Approximately 150 additional long- and short-term rentals are managed by owners directly or through authorized agents. Stone and partners also have added a full-service marina; two commercial centers with retail and dining; four wedding chapels; an activity center, and a beach and sports club for residents. Currently, approximately 50 percent of the 642-acre resort is developed.

Panoramic view of Ko Olina lagoon 1, "Koholā" ("humpback whale"), located behind Disney's Aulani resort

References[]