Opposition is building to plans from Los Angeles-based PACREP LLC to construct a second tower in its Ritz-Carlton Waikiki Beach Residences complex — an addition the developer and proponents say could bring a much-needed boost to an aging and constrained tourist destination.

In response to community concerns, PACREP has changed the proposed 39-story second tower on Kuhio Avenue to a more mauka-makai design and increased the distance between it and the first tower.

The company has touted other benefits such as a neighborhood grocery store, cafe and vibrant outdoor entertainment and retail space, but the extras were not enough to extinguish a firestorm of opposition that has been brewing in Waikiki since plans for the second tower were announced in December.

Many Waikiki residents say the second tower creates a continuous wall of density that violates Waikiki guidelines and destroys views.

"This is going too far. Enough is enough," said Mark Harpenau, a resident of the Four Paddles condominium who will lose half of his ocean view to the first development and stands to lose most of the remainder to the second tower. "Tower 1 should not be a precedent for building another wall."

The Waikiki Neighborhood Board voted 13-1, with two abstentions, late Tuesday to deny approval for the second tower. While the board’s support is not needed for the project to proceed, traditionally such community feedback is weighed heavily by city decision-makers and could impede the developer’s plans to obtain a City Council resolution allowing the tower to exceed existing height limits.

PACREP’s plan calls for a 350-foot building with up to 280 units. Waikiki Special District guidelines limit buildings in this portion of Waikiki to 300 feet.

The City Council approved PACREP’s plan to add 50 feet to the first tower at 2121 Kuhio Ave. Thanks to an easing of the rules governing height restrictions that was passed in December 2012, PACREP needed only to get a resolution approved by the City Council to move ahead with its Ritz-Carlton tower.

Groundwork has already started at 2121 Kuhio Ave., which is scheduled for completion at the beginning of 2016. The 350-foot Ritz-Carlton tower will have 38 stories and 309 units, most of which had been sold as of December.

Opponents of the second tower object to the developer’s plans to seek another exemption to guidelines that they say were established decades ago to stop Waikiki from becoming an urban jungle. Opponents also question the orientation of the second tower, which they say allows the building to have mostly ocean-view units, while effectively blocking the ocean views of neighboring condominiums.

Waikiki Neighborhood Board Vice Chairman Louis Erteschik, who made the motion to oppose the second tower, said the board missed its opportunity to take a position on the first tower because it deferred a vote until it could get more information from PACREP; however, the developer never returned.

"In my view, the last time around, you (PACREP) came before the Waikiki Neighborhood Board and thought there would be a no vote so you didn’t come back," Erteschik said.

Waikiki Special District stipulations require any developer that wants to build in the district to make a presentation to the board.

PACREP Managing Director Casey Federman, who made a presentation to 16 board members and a crowd of about 100 at the Waikiki Community Center prior to the vote on Tuesday, said the developer’s goal is to contribute to the community.

"As a result of discussions that we have had with (Waikiki community members) and the city, we’ve done what we can to make adjustments, specifically we’ve changed the project to a more mauka-makai design and we’ve increased the distance between the two buildings to about 75 feet," Federman said.

Erteschik, who was applauded by many of the community members in attendance, said the changes were not enough.

"Look, it’s pretty pathetic when the best thing you can say about this tower is that it’s not as bad as the other one," Erteschik said. "The truth is the only reason that it’s not quite as bad is because the lot is not as big."

Still, the project is not without its supporters, including board member John Dew, who cast the lone vote of support, and some members of the Waikiki Improvement Association and Hawaii Construction Alliance.

"I think the project is going to be good for Waikiki," said Dew, who was booed by the crowd. "We’ve had few new hotels and we have to grow our tourism industry."

If the project is built as planned, Dew said it would significantly expand what would be Waikiki’s first new condominium hotel or condotel complex since the 2009 opening of the Trump International Hotel Waikiki Beach Walk, which incidentally also was developed by PACREP.

"We need to get more people down to that end of Kalakaua and Kuhio," said Sam Shenkus, a Waikiki Improvement Association member. "They will provide a critical mass of hotel rooms and beautiful opportunities for retail and street cafes."

Tyler Dos Santos-Tam, executive director of the Hawaii Construction Alliance, said both projects are vital to community job growth. He estimates the second tower will supply about 600 construction jobs during the 24-month build-out.

However, Unite Here Local 5, which represents many Waikiki hotel workers, encouraged the board to reject the project until the developer clarifies whether the towers will operate as hotels or condotels. The union favors hotels, which employ more workers.

The union said it also had concerns about how the planned removal of a public parking lot would affect hotel workers throughout Waikiki.

Erteschik and other opponents also criticized PACREP for not disclosing their plans for a second tower during the first tower’s permitting.

"If they had told the community and the city of their (plan to build a second tower) it likely would have triggered the need to do an Environmental Impact Statement, which is a much more thorough and expensive process than the Environmental Assessment that they are currently pursuing," he said.

Erteschik said he did not believe Federman, who said the company began pursuing plans for a second tower only during the first tower’s entitlement phase.

"I think that is nothing but a fairy tale," he said. "In all my years on the board, I’ve hardly seen a developer operate in worse faith." 

Waikiki Neighborhood Board member Jeff Merz, who is an urban planner, said the changes made by the developer since December have begun to move the project in the right direction; however, the neighborhood board’s vote against the project puts the onus on the developer to address additional community concerns. Merz said he would like to see PACREP give better justifications for their design choices.

Merz said he will provide feedback to the city on the board’s behalf.

"I don’t know how much influence that we have at City Hall, but hopefully they’ll look at the analysis," Merz said, adding that he wants PACREP to return to Waikiki for future feedback.

PACREP hopes to begin construction on 2139 Kuhio Ave. in mid-2014 with completion in June 2016.

"We’ll continue to work collaboratively with the city and our intent is to do the same with the community," Federman said.