Kamehameha Schools anticipates demolishing the Keauhou Beach Hotel on Hawaii island next summer in a step that advances a plan to transform the oceanfront site into a public cultural reserve with classrooms and campsites three years after the hotel was closed because of financial losses.

The trust published a draft environmental assessment with the state last week that lays out its rough vision to create a Hawaiian educational complex it calls Kahalu’u Ma Kai covering the 23-acre property.

The project is projected to cost $34 million, including $11.5 million to demolish the 309-room hotel, and take 10 years to complete in phases.

"The primary purpose for this project and site improvements is to support aina-based (land-based) educational and cultural programs that are conducted in collaboration with (Kamehameha Schools) partners,"the trust said in the assessment.

Demolishing the hotel and building an educational complex will dramatically transform and restore a culturally rich area that includes several heiau, or stone platforms for worship, encroached upon by the seven-story hotel, which was built partially over a tide pool fronting Kahaluu Bay in 1969.

The demolition will include removal of the hotel along with its tennis courts, swimming pool and parking areas. The project site also includes land formerly occupied by the Kona Lagoon Hotel, which was demolished in 2004.

Elements of the new complex include public shoreline access, a heritage center, a multipurpose building, a marine lab, a halau, a canoe house, a classroom for statue carving and areas for camping.

Kamehameha Schools envisions showcasing exhibits, natural resources and cultural artifacts, including five heiau on the property, for the general public as well as visitors.

Kahalu’u Ma Kai also is envisioned as a place for cultural activities and practitioners as well as a site to host special events such as cultural festivals.

The heritage center would be an open building serving as a primary entry point with views to cultural sites, and be able to accommodate about 200 visitors a day.

A multipurpose building would be the primary center for education programs and activities, and include classrooms, a conference room, office space, a commercial kitchen, restrooms and outdoor showers. This building and a halau would be built over the basement of the hotel.

The hotel basement would be converted into parking for 61 vehicles to reduce visual clutter, the environmental assessment said. An at-grade parking lot for 21 or fewer vehicles also is planned, along with an entry that accommodates buses to drop off and pick up students.

An existing oceanfront restaurant building is slated to be renovated and converted into an open-air marine lab.

Camping for up to 90 people would be supported by ranch-style sleeping quarters that Kamehameha Schools said were commonly found near the shore in the 1800s. Modular camping quarters would provide space for an additional 30 campers.

Kamehameha Schools plans to develop an on-site wastewater collection and treatment system designed to convert sewage into water suitable for irrigation. The environmental assessment said the aim will be to reuse all waste water so that none is piped to the existing sewage treatment plant serving the area.

Cindi Punihaole, program director at the Kahalu’u Bay Education Center, which is working to improve the natural environment in the area that includes a county beach park next to the old Keauhou Beach Hotel, expressed support for the Kamehameha Schools plan.

"We are excited that another jewel in the Kahalu’u ahupua’a (mountain-to-sea tract) is to be enhanced with the purpose of educating Hawaii’s students, teachers, residents and visitors," she said in written comments on the draft environmental assessment.

The trust opted to close the Keauhou Beach Hotel in 2012 because the hotel was losing money and needed major improvements. The hotel had been unprofitable for six years and needed $50 million in upgrades to address deferred maintenance and bring the property up to industry standards, the environmental assessment said.

Kamehameha Schools projected that it would need to raise the average room rate to $250 from $150 and fill 80 percent of rooms to earn a 5.25 percent return on such an investment, which it said would be difficult and too risky for a relatively low return.

"Upgrading the resort to try to compete with other resorts on the Kona coast does not appear economically feasible," the trust said in the assessment.

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