COURTESY STELLAR
Construction on the redesigned 2.5-acre Ilima Swimming Pool Complex at The Armed Forces Recreation Center (AFRC) resort at the Hale Koa Hotel in Waikiki is expected to be completed by July 2019. The renovation includes a 400-person main pool with two slides, a 20-person hot tub and a children’s splash pad and wading pool, among other upgrades. Pictured above are renderings of the project.
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At this time next summer, Hale Koa Hotel’s swimming pool complex will look a lot like those designed for luxe Waikiki resorts. Among the amenities: an infinity pool with slides, a children’s splash pad, and a raised deck for live music. The 2.5-acre renovation is part of a larger initiative to “refresh” the 72-acre military hotel, which was built in the 1970s.
Access to the complex is limited to military members and their guests. The pool-deprived among us — anyone without military ties — can take a bit of comfort in knowing that, in this case, there’s no tapping of taxpayer dollars for the upgrades, which will be paid for with funds generated by hotel operations.
Cool — more WiFi hotspots coming soon
Hot spots are coming, but at the moment they’re still heating up. In approving the transfer of Oceanic Time Warner Cable (which closed in May 2016), the state got a deal for the general public: a commitment by Spectrum/OTWC to provide 1,000 free public WifFi access points statewide.
The deadline to fulfill that is four years after the deal closed, which means in the next two years. So the Spectrum hotspot you might see in your device now is the standard one, open to Spectrum subscribers. Still, keep an eye out for the deal: a free hour of service per device, per day.