MacNaughton Group Buys Waikiki Hotel for $30M

PACIFIC BUSINESS NEWS

The MacNaughton Group quietly acquired a boutique hotel in Waikiki, a “hidden gem” on the Gold Coast end of Kalakaua Avenue, at the end of last year for $30 million.

The sale of the Lotus Honolulu at Diamond Head hotel closed on Dec. 10. The seller was Nobuka USA Inc. 

“We view it as a hidden gem in an excellent location on the Gold Coast of Waikiki,” Emily Reber Porter, chief operating officer of The MacNaughton Group, said in an email to Pacific Business News. “We look forward to preserving its rich history and ensuring that its unique character will be preserved and nurtured over the long term, for the continued enjoyment by visitors and locals.”

The 51-room hotel, which is independenly managed, was previously branded as the Aqua Lotus Honolulu hotel, and as the W Honolulu before that.

Nobuka USA Inc. bought hotel at 2885 Kalakau Ave. for $18.5 million in 2011 from Unity House Inc., which had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Unity House has purchased the hotel in 2009 at a foreclosure auction for $8.5 million from developer Brian Anderson’s Anekona W LLC, which  bought the hotel for $6.56 million in 2004 from Colony CSR Investors.

In late December, BlackSand Capital, whose co-founder is Ian MacNaughton, bought the leasehold interest in another Waikiki boutique hotel, the New Otani Kaimana Beach Hotel, for $24 million.