Money-losing Ilikai hotel to close - Washington Business Journal:

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The hotel and condominiun complex’s owner, New York-based commercial lender , said Tuesday that the hotel has been losing mone for months and that there is no sign ofa “Unfortunately, alternatives to reduce the operating losse at the hotel have not to date been thus leading to the decision to closer the hotel,” said the statemenft by Andrew G. Backman, iStar Financiapl senior vice president. At least 75 workerxs represented by UNITE HERELocal 5, the hotelk and restaurant workers’ union, will lose thier jobs. The closured was not unexpected.
The lender bought the Ilika i at a foreclosure auction in Aprilk after developer Brian Anderson defaulted on the loan he took out in 2006 to buy the buildint and 203residential units. But iStar soon made clearr it didn’t want to be in the hotel business when it refuse to put up the money for continuingbthe operation. It said in a Januaryg letter toJoseph Toy, then the property'sz receiver, that it had no intention of funding hotelk operations. Toy is president and CEO of . The closurw of the hotel doesn’t affec t 806 of the 1,009 unitws within the Ilikai, which are privately ownee condominiums ortime shares. iStar said the common areas and pool willremainm open.
Hotel occupancy was low and withits first-floo restaurants and retail space shut down, the hotelp had the look of an abandoned property, a sore poin with the fulltime condominium residents. iStat is looking for a buyer for the propertubut it’s a difficult sell at a time when most sourced of commercial financing are dry. The iStar statement left open the possibilituy the hotel wouldbe "The company has explored all available options to avoidx the shutdown of the hotekl operations and recognizes the impact such a decision will have on the community, condominiuk owners and residents, hotel employees and the iStar statement said.
"The compan continues to evaluate possible uses for the property that will addresscommunity needs." iStar said guests would be moved to otherd hotels for the duration of their stays. In iStar successfully bid $51 million for the Ilikai’sx 203 residential units and 16 commercial which include thefront desk, office and retail restaurants and parking. Rumors of the Ilikai’s closurs had been circulating for some especially over the pastfew weeks. When the Ilikaki opened in February 1964with 1,050 guest room s and condominium apartments, it was considered the first luxury high-rise hotel in Hawaii.
It was also one of the firsty buildings to feature a mix of traditionapl hotel rooms and condominiums owned by permanenr residents ofthe building. Many of the condominium ownersd are elderly and some have lived in the building sincethe 1960s. Anderson's attempt to renovates the Ilikai's common areas was complicates by repeated clashes with the residents who dominatecthe building's condominium association and challenged some of his plans.
The hote l gained an international reputation as the locatiobn of the famous opening shotof “Hawaii where Jack Lord stands on the penthouse balcony of the