A new court motion has put the floundering Waikiki Landing project back in limbo.

The controversial public-private partnership to develop a retail, boating and wedding complex on prime state waterfront land in Waikiki has dragged on for years. First developer Honey Bee USA struggled to reach a timely agreement with the state. Then, major financier Kyoto-based Hideaki Shimakura pulled out of the project soon after the state awarded Honey Bee a 65-year lease to develop lands along the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor. Current Honey Bee President and Treasurer Keith Kiuchi has courted about 20 replacements but so far has failed to secure a viable financier. The project finally got into such arrears with the state that in November it moved to take back the lease for nonpayment of more than $500,000 in back rent and a $1 million performance bond. But Honey Bee filed bankruptcy before the state could act.

During a June 6 hearing, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris denied Kiuchi’s request to approve assumption of the boating lease by another financier or to give the floundering developer more time to come up with the more than $20 million that he needs to cure the delinquent rent and develop the project. But apparently, even that ruling can’t make the local lawyer give up on his dream.

Kiuchi filed a motion Thursday for the judge to reconsider his earlier ruling based on new evidence. In the filing, Kiuchi attests that a new financier, Tokyo-based Xymax Fellow Corp., is willing to invest $24 million in the project. By July 21, Kiuchi said, the company would pay the state Department of Land and Natural Resources more than $3 million in back and future rent and set aside $1 million for creditors. He said Xymax intends to retain Hawaiian Dredging, which as project contractor has been a key creditor in the bankruptcy case.

Kiuchi couldn’t be reached Tuesday, but said following the June 6 hearing that he planned to continue efforts to secure project financing and hoped that the judge might reconsider.

“We understand why the judge made his ruling. We didn’t have anything that was a firm plan,” Kiuchi said. “The judge made a firm line in the sand. If we didn’t come up with a firm plan, the whole thing dies.”

DLNR spokeswoman Deborah Ward could not provide details on the state’s future plans for the area since Honey Bee filed a motion for reconsideration.

“The matter is still in the courts,” Ward said.

But Waikiki Neighborhood Board member Jeff Merz, who is an urban planner, said it’s enough already.

“This has become a never-ending story,” Merz said. “The area is a big eyesore, and it’s only getting worse. There’s no hope to recoup it. I don’t know that the community would want that anyway. We were all underwhelmed from the start. The plan didn’t provide anything that the people at the harbor wanted.”

Merz said the state should move to take the lease back from Honey Bee quickly so that it can begin moving forward.

“This was a pet project of Gov. Linda Lingle’s administration,” Merz said. “The division of Boating and Ocean Recreation faced a huge learning curve, and they didn’t have the tools or manpower to properly execute this public-private partnership. It’s going to be years before anything gets built there now.”

In the interim, Merz said, the state should consider contracting new fuel and ship-repair services, amenities that were taken from the neighborhood to make way for the Honey Bee project.