KAILUA-KONA — The Kailua Village Design Commission Tuesday deferred taking action on a proposed four-story hotel on Henry Street after commissioners raised concerns about the building’s color scheme and topography of the area where it would be built.
KAILUA-KONA — The Kailua Village Design Commission Tuesday deferred taking action on a proposed four-story hotel on Henry Street after commissioners raised concerns about the building’s color scheme and topography of the area where it would be built.
The hotel would have 141 units and be situated on the south-makai corner of the Queen Kaahumanu Highway and Henry Street intersection. It would be owned by the same company that owns the Holiday Inn Express & Suites on Sarona Road.
The project’s architect, Fritz Harris-Glade, said they would likely come back next month and said Tuesday night’s meeting was a starting point to ensuring the project is one that everyone can live with.
“We had to start somewhere,” he said after the meeting. “You’re not going to hit a home run your first time at bat.”
Faruq Ramzanalli, a partner in Hotel Concepts, said he took commissioners’ concerns seriously and that it’s a chance to improve the project.
“I believe commissioners are trying to enhance our project,” he said. “We intend to work with the commission and build the right building.”
Hotel Concepts, a Seattle-based hospitality company, has properties that span several brands, including Hampton Inn & Suites, Holiday Inn and Fairfield Inn.
Negotiations as to what brand the newly proposed hotel would open under are ongoing.
Harris-Glade and Ramzanalli made their pitch for the new hotel to the Kailua Village Design Commission at the West Hawaii Civic Center, but commissioners had some concerns they want to see addressed before they greenlight the project.
One specific concern was how the 45-foot hotel would look to motorists driving up and down Henry Street, which follows a downhill slope from Queen Kaahumanu Highway to Kuakini Highway. Because of the sloping roadway, the northwest corner of the property sits about 15-20 feet above the road surface.
“The traffic coming down Henry Street, it’s going to be seeing 65 feet of project in front of it,” said commissioner Mark Van Pernis.
Commission Vice Chair Shaun Roth added to that, saying it’s difficult to visualize exactly how the hotel would look to motorists driving up and down the street without renderings showing as much.
“And so it very well may be that this design if presented with the topography would then be understandable and acceptable,” he said.
And while Van Pernis said he wasn’t opposed to having a hotel catering to a different market than other hotels up the coast, he said the commission must consider its responsibility to the community when it comes to projects proposed for the area.
“And I’m concerned that when people drive down Henry Street, as I do and as I did in regards to this project, they’re looking at 85 feet of buildings when they drive down,” he said.
He also criticized the color scheme, specifically a “barn red” used in a submitted visualization.
“That is not acceptable to me,” he said. “I prefer something that’s a natural color, compatible with nature … I’m not hung up on color, I just don’t want to see bright whites, bright reds.”
Ultimately, the commission gave the architect and owner a to-do list of areas to consider for when they come back before the board. In addition to more renderings and the color scheme, they asked for additional considerations to include a landscaping plan and how the hotel’s design could carry a “Kailua Village feel.”