The redevelopment of a West O‘ahu site that once housed a popular lū‘au is underway, and when the work on Waianiani at The Cove is done, the property will be open to the public for the first time in four decades.
Cove Campbell Kobayashi LLC is working to redevelop the 10.85-acre oceanfront property adjacent to the Ko Olina resort area in to a mixed-use entertainment, dining and shopping venue and community gathering place.
The 75/25 joint venture is led by property owners James Campbell Co., a nationally diversified private real estate company headquartered in Kapolei, with assets valued at nearly $5 billion, in partnership with Kobayashi Group, a locally owned and operated real estate development firm; and BlackSand Capital, a Hawai‘i-focused private real estate investment firm.
The property was previously home to the Paradise Cove Lū‘au, which closed at the end of 2025 after 47 years; the closure allowed the long-planned redevelopment to move forward.
More than 200 people gathered at the site May 21 for a ground blessing ceremony.
Waianiani will include a new oceanfront entertainment amphitheater with nightly lū‘au shows from Tihati Productions; three full-service restaurants, including Duke's at the Cove, the chain's first West O‘ahu location; a cultural pavilion and open-air activity lawn; and a 20,000-square-foot "village walk" marketplace, with retail space that aims to showcase local artisans and produce, a May 21 announcement noted. Meanwhile, an existing wedding chapel will be retained and improved for future use. The redevelopment will create nearly 500 permanent jobs.
James Campbell Co. President and CEO Kevin Penn told Aloha State Daily after the blessing that the company has contemplated the redevelopment for about a decade.
"This is such an iconic location, such an iconic place. The ‘āina is very, very important to the James Campbell family," Penn says. "... For the last 40 years, the only way you could get access to this land was through buying a ticket to go to the show. Our project will be open to the public. There'll be a pathway and a walkway to go through the retail. There'll be restaurants that are opening [for] lunch and dinner, and then the show will operate. Opening this property up — opening it up to the West Side, opening it up for the people that are visiting our island — was important to us, and we're excited about that."
According to Penn, construction is expected to be finished at the end of 2027 and the project is anticipated to open in the first quarter of 2028.
When asked how the partnership with Kobayashi Group and BlackSand Capital came about, Penn said that James Campbell Co. "really wanted to partner with a group that brought the hospitality perspective. ... They've done hospitality and entertainment venues before. The James Campbell Co. has not. ... This is a perfect marriage of what we can bring together."
Kobayashi Group CEO and Partner Alana Kobayashi Pakkala told ASD that the developer has been "admiring this opportunity for many, many years, so we were incredibly excited when we were offered the opportunity to present our ideas for the ability to partner with James Campbell Co."
Pakkala says that — among the reasons Kobayashi Group was interested in the opportunity — the company feels strongly that there's an "incredible opportunity" to grow key entertainment areas of the island.
"We have some of the most talented people here and to be able to share the Hawaiian culture and stories and music, both with our local residents and with visitors, that was really an incredibly interesting opportunity," she said.
Pakkala says, too, that Kobayashi Group are "strong believers in the West Side," and has been developing in the area for decades.
(ICYMI: Along with its development of Parkway Village at Kapolei with Āhē Group on land owned by the City and County of Honolulu, Kobayashi Group was chosen late last year as the preferred negotiating partner for the redevelopment of nearly 14 city-owned acres in Kapolei into an affordable rental community).
As previously reported, the cove property — acquired by James Campbell in 1877 — has been used commercially since the 1970s and was last redeveloped in the early 1990s.
According to Thursday's announcement, when completed in 2028, Highgate will oversee daily operations and Hawai‘i Hospitality Group will serve as asset manager.
Waianiani is just one of five active development projects in progress for JCC, a "high water mark" for the company and its history, Penn says.
Among those projects is another joint venture with Kobayashi Group and BlackSand Capital in Waikīkī, as well as an affordable rental project in Kapolei called Nāliko, which broke ground late last year.
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Stephanie Salmons can be reached at stephanie@alohastatedaily.com.
