Event details:
Rebuilding Kona Village – an Icon of Hawai'i resorts
In March 2016, Kennedy Wilson acquired the development rights to Kona Village Resort on the Kona coast. Originally opened in 1965, in those early years Kona Village was accessed via a rough lava jeep road or small plane. The Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway changed its isolation, and opened up the entire coastline, in 1975. The resort had been closed since being damaged by the tsunami generated by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake near Fukushima, Japan. Kona Village Resort reopened on July 1, 2023, after navigating a maze of permits given its modern, behind the scenes, and state-of-the-art sustainable energy/water infrastructure along with the usual challenges of constructing near the shoreline. The story of rebuilding of a truly iconic 82-acre leasehold ocean-front property beloved for half a century by guests and staff alike and continuously nurtured by the lineal descendant family of Kahuwai Bay for hundreds of years is definitely worth hearing.
Scott Bedingfield has worked in construction and development in the resort industry on the Kona-Kohala coast since 1990, managing construction of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel at Mauna Lani, Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel at Mauna Kea, and the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai with Hawaiian Dredging & Construction. In 1997 he moved to the owner-developer role, overseeing development and construction on 860 acres at Hualalai Resort after the opening of the hotel. In 2011 Scott joined Kennedy Wilson and IHP Capital Partners serving as VP of development and construction at the new 500-acre Kohanaiki private community before leading the rebuild of Kona Village Resort beginning in 2018.