However, when the project encountered difficulties, Ho assumed complete control of the $27 million effort, and eventually re-imagined it as a complex with 509 condominium units and 504 hotel rooms.

Two of The Ilikai's most unique features, its external glass elevator, running express to a rooftop restaurant, were both added mid-construction when the project was re-conceived as a hotel.

[4] Due to The Ilikai's success, Ho immediately announced the construction of an adjacent additional wing, eventually known as the Yacht Harbor Tower, containing 360 more hotel rooms, located across the open air lobby and pool.

Jowa Hawaii Co., a subsidiary of Heller-White's lenders, the Industrial Bank of Japan, exercised an option to purchase the hotel later that year for $69.5 million.

[8] In 2009, the 203 hotel rooms remaining in the Ilikai, which was facing foreclosure, were acquired by New York-based iStar Financial, which brought in Honolulu-based Aqua-Aston Hospitality to manage the property.