Plans have been submitted to the Kaua‘i County Planning Department to renovate and redevelop the former Coco Palms Hotel, once the flagship hotel for Kaua‘i hotels in the 1950s. The hotel has been closed since Hurricane ‘Iniki ravaged it in
Plans have been submitted to the Kaua‘i County Planning Department to renovate and redevelop the former Coco Palms Hotel, once the flagship hotel for Kaua‘i hotels in the 1950s.
The hotel has been closed since Hurricane ‘Iniki ravaged it in 1992.
The Kaua‘i Planning Commission has scheduled a public hearing at 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 12 at the Lihu‘e Civic Center to begin an official review of Coco Palms, LLC.’s proposed renovation and redevelopment plan for the old hotel.
Coco Palms LLC. leaders are seeking a special management area use permit, a project development use permit , a variance permit and a Class IV Zoning permit for the 33- acre project, which is located immediately mauka of Wailua Bay.
Plans call for the development of 103 hotel suites and 200 multi-family residential condominium units. The project would include support facilities such as retail shops, a spa, a museum, restaurants, office space, meeting rooms, parking and a deviation from building heights for the area.
Leaders with Coco Palms LLC. are proposing to recreate the character of the old hotel.
The property is made up of parcels that are owned by Wailua Associates and those that are leased to the entity by the state of Hawai‘i, according to the county data.
The hotel originally opened on January 25, 1953 with 24 rooms. Under the direction of Grace Guslander, a hotelier, and her husband, Lyle, the resort expanded to 416 rooms by the mid-1970s, but the hotel rooms drooped to 393 homes by 1984.
The hotel was one of most elegant Polynesian hotels in the Pacific in its heyday.
In 1985, Wailua Associates acquired the resort from the Guslander/ Amfac group, according to a Web site.
The hotel’s fame and appeal grew with the filming of parts of Elvis Presley’s 1961 “Blue Hawaii” movie at the hotel grounds.
The area that makes up the Coco Palms Resort was the home of Kauai’s last reigning queen, Queen Debora Kapule, in the mid-1800’s.
Historical sites have been reportedly found on the hotel grounds.
The grounds boast a lagoon and had at one time a grove consisting of 2,000 coconut trees.
Today, a security fence surrounds most, if not all, of the property to keep out trespassers.
