The Honolulu City Council Committee on Zoning on April 3, 2025, reported out for adoption an amended special management area major permit and approved a revised conceptual planned development resort plan for a new 36‑story hotel tower and podium at Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki.

The committee adopted a CD1 version of the SMA (resolution 25‑91) with verbal amendments requiring that, before issuance of any construction or building permit, the applicant submit copies of the State Historic Preservation Commission’s acceptance letters for the archaeological monitoring plan and burial treatment plan and any required mitigation protocols. The committee also extended the applicant’s deadline to obtain construction permits to 60 months and removed a clause that would have shielded the city from legal actions related to permit review and approval.

The approved PDR conceptual plan (resolution 25‑92) was amended to allow the Department of Planning and Permitting director to approve “minor or non‑substantive deviations” from the approved conceptual plan, and to lengthen the deadline to obtain a construction or building permit from 36 months to 60 months. The PDR CD1 as amended also adds public‑benefit requirements including a sculpture garden, monthly public festivals, a bike‑share station and bike repair station, surfboard and bicycle storage racks, pedestrian access improvements, shade trees and seating, maintenance of bus stops along the fronting roadway, and employee bicycle passes and parking cash‑out programs. Committee members clarified that the monthly festival will be free to the public and that participating vendors will not be charged stall fees.

Applicant representatives said the project team completed a final supplemental environmental impact statement in 2023 and a range of technical studies, and that archaeological surveys uncovered previously identified and three newly found archaeological properties, including two instances of human skeletal remains that require the monitoring and burial treatment plans now mandated in the CD1. Jonathan Fuess, senior vice president for investments at Park Hotels and Resorts, the property owner, said the new tower would provide visitor capacity and jobs; he quantified roughly 370 full‑time equivalent jobs from the new tower and about 123 secondary jobs during operations.

Developers and architects described design elements intended to strengthen a Hawaiian “sense of place,” internalize loading and delivery facilities beneath the building to reduce curbside congestion on Ala Moana Boulevard, and create a landscaped public plaza and Port Cochere that opens at the ground plane. The project team said internal loading will remove current delivery trucks that park on Ala Moana Boulevard.

The Department of Planning and Permitting told the committee it supports the CD1 as verbally amended and is available for follow‑up questions. Public testimony in support came from the Waikiki Improvement Association and ABC Stores, and from a community testifier who identified herself as affiliated with CARES. The committee chair reported the resolutions as amended and recommended they be reported out for adoption by the full council.

The committee’s actions do not authorize construction; they report the amended CD1 versions of the SMA and the PDR conceptual plan out of committee for scheduling and final council consideration and further permit processing by city departments and state agencies.