KAILUA-KONA >> Kona Village, which had been shuttered since 2011 when a devastating earthquake-generated tsunami sent waves surging across the Pacific, has reopened after a seven-year, from-the-ground-up renovation, which aimed to prioritize environmental responsibility and care for local culture.
Developed by California-based global real estate investment company Kennedy Wilson, the resort reopened July 1 as the Kona Village, a Rosewood Resort. It’s the first foray into Hawaii for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, whose global collection spans 18 countries and comprises 31 luxury residences, hotels, and resorts — including top names such as the Carlyle, a Rosewood Hotel, in New York; Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas; Hotel de Crillon, a Rosewood Hotel, in Paris; Rosewood Hong Kong; and Rosewood Sao Paulo.
William McMorrow, chairman and CEO of Kennedy Wilson, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in an exclusive interview following a resort blessing June 28 that the focus of the development was a “light-on-the-land” approach that emphasized the resort’s cultural history and the natural beauty.
McMorrow said the team knew that “we only had one chance, and if we didn’t do it the right way the first time, we couldn’t redo it.”
McMorrow said his ties to the property go back to 1992, when he visited Kona Village for the first time and was “blown away.”
“There were no phones, no TVs. We didn’t get dressed up at all. We just hung out and made friends and spent time in the ocean,” he said. “I came to just love the Big Island — the people and the culture.”
McMorrow added that his 50% partner in the development is Laurene Powell Jobs and that all key decisions, from community engagement to development and operations, are a product of that closely aligned partnership. Powell Jobs and her late husband, tech visionary Steve Jobs, and their family — like McMorrow and his family — were longtime guests at Kona Village before it closed following the tsunami.
Kona Village’s reopening has been a long time coming, and in many ways is the most significant recovery milestone to date from the March 11, 2011, tsunami, which was triggered by a magnitude-9.0 earthquake off Japan. Hawaii County officials said several waves hit the coast, causing damage to homes, businesses, parks and roadways. Officials recalled that damage along the coast included at least one house being washed into Kealakekua Bay by the waves. They said several hotels in South Kohala and North Kona were affected, including the Kona Village Resort.
Indeed, the iconic resort, which was built in 1965 along 81 acres of the Kona Coast, was wrecked by that 2011 tsunami, which damaged gas, water, electrical and wastewater lines along with about 20 of the then 125 bungalows, two restaurants, the main office and an ocean activity center. About 200 workers were laid off.
Then-owner Kona Village Investors LLC, a partnership affiliated with computer mogul Michael Dell and investment management firm Rockpoint Group LLC, vowed to rebuild, but there was a financial dispute and Kennedy Wilson eventually took over the resort. Landowner Kamehameha Schools and Kennedy Wilson reached a final agreement on the ground lease in 2016, clearing the way to resume repair and renovation work.
Hawaii island Mayor Mitch Roth during the blessing praised Kona Villages’ many partners for their commitment to preserving culture and environment and to sustaining the community by providing more than 700 construction jobs and now, with the opening, supplying more than 300 resort jobs.
“We saw this was a great opportunity to keep people working,” Roth said.“We are at a time in history when more Hawaiians are living out of the state than in the state. When we start to lose our Hawaiians, we start to lose our culture. We start to lose who we are, and then places like this become Disneyland versus what they really should be: a place to share and appreciate the culture that we have.”
Rochelle Poaha, a former Kona Village employee who has returned as a receiving clerk, said the resort’s reopening is “huge for the community.”
“I was next door when the tsunami occurred, and it was kind of devastating to hear that the resort did not make it through the tsunami, and a lot of the employees eventually lost their jobs,” Poaha said. “They are quite happy that it is returning.”
The opening also is cause for celebration for the resort’s Facebook fans, including the 8,500 followers of the Save Our Kona Village Facebook page, who have been waiting years for its reconstruction and regularly reminisce about honeymoons and other vacations at Kona Village. The reopening has inspired a new Facebook page called Saved! Kona Village Resort, which already has 2,800 members.
It’s also garnered the support of lineal descendants of the land, who worked alongside Kennedy Wilson, Rosewood and other partners to ensure that development protected the history of Kona Village, Kahuwai Bay and the surrounding lands that trace back to their ancestors.
Ku‘ulei Keakealani and other descendants were at the blessing and led an aha lei piko ceremony that brought many hotel and development partners to tears.
Michael Eadie, Kennedy Wilson’s managing director of development and construction, said direct lineal descendants were part of a cultural leadership committee that helped guide many aspects of the resort, including design, construction and programming.
He said there was compromise on both sides, and cited an instance where Kennedy Wilson changed its utility plan for its guest units to protect an area where fragments of ancient lures were found during excavation.
“It’s not a state-defined archaeological site. There was no requirement for us to protect it, but the family and cultural leadership really wanted us to protect it,” he said. “It’s a give and take.”
Sandra Estornell, Rosewood’s managing director for the resort, said input from those on the cultural leadership committee also has been present on the management side and will continue.
“This is not about the hotel. This is about the people,” Estornell said. “It is a responsibility with (the lineal descendants). You really want to hold their hands, and you want them to guide you. It’s not just that we need them; we really want them. We are guests in this land.”
Rosewood’s first resort in Hawaii has 150 stand-alone guest hale — that’s 25 more than the original resort, but the slight expansion has not compromised the property’s low-rise footprint, which pays homage to its past as a fishing village and then decades later as a resort with a retro-Hawaiiana vibe.
The property, which sits on Kamehameha Schools land, is in Kaupulehu, which was once a thriving land division with an ancient fishing village on the west side of Hawaii island. It became the Kona Village Resort after Johnno Jackson and his wife, Helen, discovered the abandoned village in their schooner, the New Moon, and created a resort so remote that in the early days guests could arrive only by boat or plane.
In the decades after, the luxury resort became known for its unplugged Polynesian-style, thatched-hut hale, which had no door locks or telephones, TV or Wi-Fi. Celebrities often arrived by private plane to vacation at Kona Village because it was the antithesis of the concrete-and-marble mega-resorts that more commonly dot Hawaii’s hotel landscapes.
The latest vision for the resort, where hales start at $2,000 per night, includes Wi-Fi and doesn’t ban cellphones, but TVs are available only upon request. It aims to keep the property’s old-fashioned charm while seeking modern solutions to meet ambitious sustainability goals from Rosewood Hotel Group.
Lauren Nakoa, sustainability manager for the resort, said several of the property’s key buildings were designed according to LEED Gold Certification standards, and the resort is also pursuing TRUE and SITES certifications.
Nakoa said if the resort reaches that goal, “it would be the only hotel in the world with all three certifications.”
Nakoa said extensive solar fields will allow Kona Village to be 100% powered by renewable energy, and it operates its own reverse osmosis and wastewater treatment plants. Nonprofit Re-use Hawai‘i was engaged to deconstruct deteriorated buildings and salvage up to 80% of the materials for reuse and recycling, she added.
Development was spearheaded by Hawaii-raised architect Greg Warner of Walker Warner Architects, and San Francisco-based interior design firm NICOLEHOLLIS. The focus was on preserving the feel of the old resort while making updates that increased sustainability, such as using recycled materials in the new thatched roofing instead of native leaves.
VITA Planning & Landscape Architecture led the preservation of the resort’s existing trees, plants and lava fields, which provide a breathtaking entry into the resort. The Asaya Spa at Kona Village, which is centered around Rosewood’s holistic wellness philosophy, also is built into the black lava with views toward Hualalai Volcano.
Dining venues include the original resort’s Shipwreck Bar, made from the Jacksons’ schooner, and Talk Story Bar. Other amenities include an outdoor recreational program as well as a fitness center, tennis courts and multiple swimming pools. A cultural center, which will host community and school groups, is under construction.
