March 24: BLNR reduces HOT’s performance bond by half to $500,000, and allows the company to pay its lease rent with the other $500,000.
2005
Sept. 30: At a public auction in Hilo, Ken Fujiyama’s Hawaii Outdoor Tours submits a winning bid of $6.1 million, plus rent of $500,000 per year to lease the state-owned Hawaii Naniloa Resort and the Naniloa Country Club.
2006
Feb. 1: HOT assumes lease for a 65-year term. The hotel’s name becomes the Naniloa Volcanoes Resort, and the golf course closes. The union representing former employees files a lawsuit to block the transaction. (The lawsuit is later dismissed for lack of standing).
May 1: Golf course reopens.
Dec. 6: Keith Vieira, an executive for Starwood Hotels and Resorts, sends a letter to the governor, the mayor, and other officials: “By our estimates … a reasonable investment should be more along the lines of $15-20 million.”
Dec. 26: Mayor Harry Kim responds to Vieira: “Common sense tells me that $5 million will not even come near to what is needed.”
2007
March 15: The Department of Land and Natural Resources sends HOT a notice of default for beginning construction of improvements without the necessary approvals and the failure to provide the required construction bond.
May 17: In a letter to the DLNR, Fujiyama details his plans for renovation, including the removal of asbestos within the Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa towers. “The response to the renovated rooms has been great!” he says.
July 3: HOT secures $2.5 million bond to renovate the Mauna Kea Tower. Hawaii County issues its building permit two days later.
2008
April 16: DLNR performs site inspection, notes “ongoing improvements to limited sections of the property. … Driveway entrance and parking lots are in need of resurfacing.”
June 8: Another site inspection finds that the Mauna Kea Tower’s rooms are renovated on all floors except for the corner suites. The Kilauea Tower was closed and under full reconstruction. Plans to renovate banquet rooms were in the development stage.
July 30: DLNR grants HOT permission to remove a dead ironwood tree from its premises.
Aug. 27: Fujiyama informs DLNR that HOT has surpassed its $5 million improvement requirement as of the past July. He reports renovations have been completed on 125 of the Mauna Kea Tower’s 175 rooms.
Oct. 31: Fujiyama tells DLNR that improvement costs have reached $5.5 million and that HOT plans to invest more than $2 million additional funds in construction costs.
2009
Feb. 13: DLNR issues notice of default for failure to pay rent. HOT makes a timely payment.
Dec. 10: HOT asks that DLNR use its $1 million performance bond to prepay the lease rent for the next two years, noting that it has spent more than $6.6 million to improve the Naniloa and its surroundings. The department replies on Jan. 20 that only the BLNR can approve that request, and that a full release of the bond “is not in the best interests of the State.”
2010
Feb. 13: DLNR issues notice of default for failure to pay rent. HOT makes a timely payment.
June 8: DLNR conducts site inspection and recommends releasing the bond in full “based on satisfactory completion of the renovation work” to the Mauna Kea Tower.
July 7: HOT posts a notice of completion of renovation for the Mauna Kea Tower.
Aug. 23: DLNR issues notice of default for failure to pay rent. HOT makes a timely payment.
Aug. 30: Contractor files in 3rd Circuit Court for $80,361.79 in unpaid labor and material costs. Dispute is sent to arbitration.
2011
Feb. 28: DLNR issues notice of default for failure to pay rent.
March 24: BLNR reduces HOT’s performance bond by half to $500,000, and allows the company to pay its lease rent with the other $500,000.