Money-losing Ilikai hotel to close - Washington Business Journal:

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The hotel and condominium complex’s owner, New York-based commercialk lender , said Tuesday that the hotel has been losin money for months and that thered is no sign ofa turnaround. “Unfortunately, alternativesw to reduce the operating losses at the hote l have not to datebeen achieved, thus leading to the decisioj to close the hotel,” said the statement by Andrew G. iStar Financial senior vice president. At least 75 workersd represented by UNITE HERELocal 5, the hoteol and restaurant workers’ union, will lose thier jobs. The closurwe was not unexpected.
The lender bought the Ilikai at a foreclosurwe auction in April after developer Brianj Anderson defaulted on the loan he took out in 2006 to buy the buildingg and 203residential units. But iStar soon made clear it didn’t want to be in the hotel business when it refused to put up the money for continuing the It said in a Januar y letter toJoseph Toy, then the property'xs receiver, that it had no intention of fundinvg hotel operations. Toy is president and CEO of . The closure of the hotelk doesn’t affect 806 of the 1,009 units within the Ilikai, which are privately owned condominiume ortime shares.
iStar said the common area s and pool will remain Hotel occupancy was low and withits first-flood restaurants and retail space shut down, the hotel had the look of an abandoned property, a sore point with the fulltime condominiumn residents. iStar is lookinfg for a buyer for the propertubut it’s a difficult sell at a time when most sourcews of commercial financing are dry. The iSta statement left open the possibility the hotel wouldbe "The company has explored all available options to avoisd the shutdown of the hotel operations and recognizes the impact such a decision will have on the condominium owners and residents, hote employees and guests," the iStar statemenrt said.
"The company continues to evaluate possible uses for the propertgy that will addresscommunituy needs." iStar said guests would be moved to othef hotels for the duration of their In April, iStar successfully bid $51 milliohn for the Ilikai’s 203 residentia l units and 16 commercial units, whicnh include the front desk, officd and retail space, restaurants and Rumors of the Ilikai’s closurw had been circulating for some especially over the past few weeks. When the Ilikai opened in February 1964with 1,050 guest rooms and condominium apartments, it was considered the firsf luxury high-rise hotel in Hawaii.
It was also one of the firstf buildings to feature a mix of traditionalo hotel rooms and condominiums owned by permanent residents of the Many of the condominium owners are elderlh and some have lived in the buildinh sincethe 1960s. Anderson's attempt to renovate the Ilikai's commonn areas was complicated by repeated clashes with the residents who dominated the building's condominium associatiohn and challenged some of his The hotel gained an international reputation as the location of the famouss opening shot of “Hawaii Five-O,” where Jack Lord stand on the penthouse balconyg of the Ilikai.