FAQ

Coco Palms is currently targeting a 2028 opening. See our updates here. The project was originally scheduled for 2026, and that date moved due to construction delays affecting projects across Hawaiʻi and the mainland. In July 2026, the project secured $431 million in construction financing, and below-grade work is underway on the 32-acre Wailua site. When it opens, it will operate as Coco Palms, A Kimpton Resort, the first Kimpton property in Hawaiʻi. We post firm dates here as they are confirmed rather than as they are projected.

Coco Palms is owned by Coco Palms Hui, a subsidiary of Reef Capital Partners, a real estate investment firm based in Utah. Reef acquired the property in 2022 through a state court foreclosure. The restored resort will be managed by Highgate and will operate under the Kimpton brand, part of IHG Hotels & Resorts. Reef Capital Partners is the owner and developer, Highgate is the operator, and Kimpton is the brand. The property changed hands several times after Hurricane Iniki in 1992, including a 2015 plan to reopen under Hyatt that collapsed in 2019.

No. Coco Palms is an active construction site and is closed to the public. Entering the property is trespassing and is not safe. Wailua Beach, directly across Kūhiō Highway, remains open to the public and always will. The restoration adds 40 public parking spaces and a public restroom serving the beach. The property frontage and the coconut grove are visible from Kūhiō Highway and from the beach.

Construction is underway. Below-grade work is in progress on the 32-acre site, and $431 million in construction financing closed in July 2026. The site looks empty from the highway because the work completed so far has been removal and below-grade. Three large concrete structures that were structurally unsound have been demolished, along with several smaller buildings. Vertical construction, the part visible from Kūhiō Highway, has not yet begun. We understand the skepticism. This property has seen more than two decades of announced plans that did not proceed, so we are posting construction milestones with dates on our Updates page.

All zoning, use, and variance permits required for the restoration have been obtained. In March 2024, the Kauaʻi County Planning Commission denied a petition seeking to revoke those permits and confirmed they remain valid. Individual building permits are issued and renewed on a rolling basis as each phase of construction begins, which is standard for a project of this size and duration.

Not yet. Coco Palms, A Kimpton Resort is not accepting reservations. Booking will open through IHG Hotels & Resorts closer to the opening date, and rooms are expected to be bookable with cash or IHG One Rewards points. To be notified when reservations open, subscribe to project updates at the bottom of this page.

Coco Palms will reopen as Coco Palms, A Kimpton Resort. Kimpton is part of IHG Hotels & Resorts, and this will be the first Kimpton property in Hawaiʻi. The resort will be operated by Highgate. The partnership was announced in June 2024.

The restored resort will have 350 rooms across three low-rise buildings and a set of cottages, down from more than 400 rooms before Hurricane Iniki. Planned amenities include three swimming pools, a spa, a rooftop bar, a pool bar, a restored shoreline restaurant, retail and meeting space, and a 300-seat cultural center and museum dedicated to the history of Wailua and Kauaʻi. The evening torch-lighting ceremony, a Coco Palms tradition, will be revived.

Coco Palms sits in Wailua on the east side of Kauaʻi, on Kūhiō Highway across from Wailua Beach, near the mouth of the Wailua River. It is roughly an eight minute drive from Līhuʻe Airport. The address is 4-241 Kūhiō Highway, Kapaʻa, HI 96746. The property is an active construction site and is not open to visitors.

Coco Palms was the filming location for the 1961 Elvis Presley film Blue Hawaii, including the wedding scene on the lagoon. The historic lagoon remains a defining feature of the property and is part of the restoration.

Coco Palms opened in 1953 and became one of the most recognized resorts in Hawaiʻi during the mid-century era, hosting guests including Elvis Presley, Rita Hayworth, and Gene Autry. Hurricane Iniki struck Kauaʻi in September 1992 and caused damage severe enough that the hotel never reopened. In the decades since, a series of owners and investors announced restoration plans that did not proceed, including a 2015 effort to reopen the property under the Hyatt brand that collapsed in 2019. The property sat exposed to the elements for more than thirty years.

Yes. The restoration includes 40 public parking spaces and a public restroom serving Wailua Beach, both open to residents whether or not you are a hotel guest. The 300-seat cultural center and museum is designed to be accessible to the community, not only to resort guests. Wailua Beach itself is and remains public.

Wailua, or Wailuanuiahoʻāno, is among the most culturally significant places in the Hawaiian Islands. It contains the Wailua Complex of Heiau, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962, along with a royal birthing site, fishponds, and burial sites. It was a seat of aliʻi. Groups including I Ola Wailuanui have argued that a hotel is not an appropriate use of this land and that the site should instead be returned to cultural, educational, and community use. Others have raised concerns about traffic, infrastructure capacity, flooding, and visitor volume on the east side. We do not think those concerns are unreasonable. A cultural advisory committee of Kauaʻi kūpuna guides the restoration, and the principles that committee gathered from Native Hawaiian community members, Wailua residents, and the wider Kauaʻi community are documented and shape the project. Disagreement about this property is real and has not gone away.

The State Historic Preservation Division approved an Archaeological Monitoring Plan for this project. Archaeological monitoring is required for all ground-disturbing activity on the site, and a qualified monitor is present for that work. In 2024, claims circulated publicly alleging that ancestral remains had been disturbed. State and county officials reviewed those claims and found no basis to proceed with a formal investigation. If iwi kūpuna are encountered at any point, state law and the approved monitoring plan govern the response, in consultation with the Kauaʻi Island Burial Council and lineal and cultural descendants.

Stories about Coco Palms have circulated for decades, helped along by thirty years of empty buildings and a coconut grove that gets very dark at night. What is true is that Wailua holds deep significance in Hawaiian history and tradition. It was a seat of aliʻi, and the area contains heiau, a royal birthing site, and burial grounds. That significance is real, and it is the reason the restoration is guided by a cultural advisory committee of Kauaʻi kūpuna. The cultural center and museum planned for the property will tell that history directly.