Starwood in Talks to Acquire Part of Hawaii’s Turtle Bay Resort

Starwood Hotels & Resorts is expected to acquire a portion of the Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu’s North Shore in what appears to be the beginning of a sell-off of individual parcels of the resort by the Kuilima Resort Co., the property’s owner since 1988, according to reports in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and the Honolulu Advertiser.

The 880-acre resort has been on the market for nearly a year. Development options were delayed by unsuccessful court challenges brought by environmentalists, a hotel workers union and community members who object to plans to add up to five hotels with 3,500 rooms and condominium units to the site.

Keep the North Shore Country, a non-profit organization that aims to “preserve, protect and enhance” the North Shore area of Oahu, and the Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter, have appealed the dismissal of their lawsuit seeking a new environmental impact study for the expansion. Both the master plan and original EIS for the project were approved more than 20 years ago but never implemented.

A further controversial issue raised by locals, which has the backing of the State Historic Preservation Division, is the “high probability that one or more of the proposed hotels is located in an area within which numerous subsurface burials are located.”