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Posted: May 27, 2014

New adventure park planned for Kalaeloa in West Oahu

Pacific Business News

May 6, 2014

By Duane Shimogawa

Coral Crater Adventure Park, featuring a zipline course, off-road rides and a climbing wall, is being built in a 23-acre former Navy coral quarry owned by Hunt Cos. in Kalaeloa in West Oahu, the developer of the park told PBN.

Coral Crater LLC, which is headed by James Owen, former president of Discover Hawaii Tours and one of the founding partners of The Groove Hawaii go-kart and entertainment park in Kakaako, recently signed a lease with Hunt Cos. for the new park.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“There’s going to be lots of trees and open space,” Owen told PBN. “There will also be a playground for small children as well as restaurants and a large picnic area.”

The park also will include repelling opportunities off natural cliffs and from a man-made climbing area, he said, noting that the park has been in the works for more than three years.

“This park will mostly be for kamaaina,” Owen said. “I want to make this really successful and see if this is a model that can be replicated elsewhere.”

The Coral Crater Adventure Park will be located at the intersection of Enterprise Street and Roosevelt Avenue. It is expected to create at least 40 permanent jobs with an estimated opening in early 2015, Owen said.

He said he has not yet established prices for visitors, but they will vary by activity.

Hunt Cos. wants to attract a variety of recreational amenities to the area as part of its goal of creating a thriving, family-oriented community in Kalaeloa. To date, the Texas-based developer has invested about $15 million in its 538 acres of former Navy land in Kalaeloa to help restore life to the area.

By the year 2035, Hunt’s plan for Kalaeloa is projected to create more than 7,000 direct and indirect jobs, more than 1,000 construction jobs, 4,000 homes and many community amenities.

"I think it’s a nice project that hopefully will bring in some community interest," Hunt Cos. Vice President of Development Jose Bustamante told PBN. "There’s really nothing else there for fun, except for surfing and fishing."

Mark Ambard, president of Kailua-based Ambard & Co., served as the listing broker with Stacie Castro of Colliers International Hawaii as the tenant’s agent.

Minnesota-based Geronimo Construction, one of the top zipline course developers in North America, completed a feasibility study for the park's zipline attraction. Bidding is currently underway for construction of the zipline course, which is expected to begin this summer and create about 20 jobs.

Ross Curry, an owner of aptly named Geronimo Construction, which specializes in the design, building and training of canopy tours, zipline tours, ziplines and tree-based suspension bridges, told PBN that the plans include about five side-by-side ziplines.

Owen said the ziplines will be built over a 50-foot-deep quarry, and that the ranges in heights are still to be determined.

“We want weight ranges on the ziplines,” he said. “By having two ziplines, we can set it at certain weight ratings.”

Curry declined to give specifics regarding the cost of the project, although he did say that the average cost to build similar projects is about $1.5 million.

Geronimo Construction, which has more than a decade of experience in building, rigging and maintaining large elevated projects, has been a facilitator on high-ropes courses, canopy tours, ziplines and low-ropes courses for more than 13 years.

The first zipline course in Hawaii opened in 2002. There are now some 22 ziplines and canopy tours throughout the state, according to a 2012 study by the state Auditor's Office.

Meanwhile, The Groove Hawaii, which opened earlier this year in Kakaako, plans to add a wind tunnel for simulated skydiving.