Thos Rohr Leads the Way
Developing a long range, big-picture project such as Waikoloa Beach Resort takes a leader with keen instinct, business acumen, and an abundance of sheer persistence. Those are traits that nicely sum up Thos Rohr, president and CEO of Waikoloa Land Company from 1988 to 2010.
Known by friends and associates as “The Commish” — a nickname he earned for his resolute ability to manage and organize a field of prestigious celebrities and business executives at his high-profile golf tournaments; “they were like herding cats!” he says — Thos Rohr is widely regarded as someone who set new standards in the leisure hospitality industry in Hawai`i during his long career.
Mr. Rohr Establishes a Path for Waikoloa
“The Commish is a pioneer,” says Scott Head, vice president of resort operations for Waikoloa Land Company, who worked alongside Rohr for several years. “He developed and promoted a golf lifestyle that is now so popular at island resorts, and knew how to publicize that lifestyle to raise the state’s profile, encourage investment, and bring people to Hawai`i.”
Rohr landed in the islands on New Year’s Day 1960, “shanghaied” from Cleveland, Ohio, by his close friend Peter Revson, who went on to became a world-class Formula One race driver. Rohr went from living with Revson high on the hog in a home on Black Point — Honolulu’s ritziest neighborhood — to sleeping in a canoe on Waikiki Beach.
“That’s when I met Danny Kaleikini,” he says. “He was walking down the beach and I was just waking up. We’ve been friends ever since.”
Sleeping in the canoe lasted but a short time. Rohr quickly made a name for himself in the hotel industry, working first with Sheraton and then with Hilton. As he rose through the management ranks, he became acquainted with many of the state’s most dynamic businesspeople, and in 1974 he was named president and CEO of Kapalua Land Company. There, he played a major role in establishing the resort’s iconic butterfly logo and, working with Arnold Palmer, bringing professional golf to Maui.
Palmer — who with partner Ed Seay designed the Kapalua Bay Course — created an event called The Golf Party to help Rohr market the resort and sell real estate. It was such a successful venture that it became the foundation for the Kapalua Invitational (now known as the SBS Tournament of Champions).
“Arnold said, ‘I’ll throw a golf tournament for you,’” Rohr says, “and that created a lot of buzz and good publicity. Golf is one of the great word-of-mouth sports there is. And, Arnold was the King.”
Thos Rohr Guides Waikoloa Land Company – Seeing the Future
Rohr brought both his keen promotional instincts and his friendship with Arnold Palmer with him to Waikoloa Beach Resort. When he was named president and CEO of Waikoloa Land Company in 1988, construction was almost complete on the Hyatt Regency Waikoloa (now Hilton Waikoloa Village).
“At the time,” he says, “the plan was to build four hotels and four golf courses connected via a series of lagoons. There were no condos in the plan either, and all development was to be on the makai (ocean) side of the King’s Trail.”
Realizing that that approach was not going to succeed in a location as remote as Waikoloa was considered way back then, Rohr was determined to create a master plan that would maximize the potential of the land and resort, while drawing visitors from around the world to the Kohala Coast.
“I brought restaurateur Rob Thibaut over to look at building a restaurant,” he says. “Rob,” who owned successful restaurants under the TS Restaurants umbrella with partner Sandy Saxton, “told me we needed a little Waikiki at Waikoloa. ‘There’s no there there,’ he said.”
Taking heed of that advice, Rohr set about building the Kings’ Shops (which opened in 1991) and later Queens’ MarketPlace (first stores opened in 2007), altogether some 200,000 feet of shopping and dining space that would serve as the anchor for the resort.
Thibaut never built a restaurant at Waikoloa, but Roy Yamaguchi — a friend of The Commish and retail real estate expert Alan Beall, who was tasked with leasing the commercial space at Waikoloa — was an early lessee at Kings’ Shops, opening Roy’s Waikoloa Bar & Grill in 1996. His prescience and trust paid off, as the location has been one of his better performing restaurants ever since.
“The resort would have never grown into the success story that it is today without the shopping centers,” Head says. “They drive interest and demand and have supported all the various resort developments.”
To commemorate his vision, achievements, and resolve — his will, his way — resort visitors will nowadays discover the symbolically named “Rohr’s Way” leading into Queens’ MarketPlace.
“The things I’m most proud of accomplishing at Waikoloa,” Rohr reflects, “are how we were able to zone the land on both sides of the King’s Trail,” which allowed the resort to expand the condominium and timeshare offerings that are just nowadays being realized, convincing Mayor Steve Yamashiro to extend the Kona airport runway for jets, and building the shopping centers.”
Thos Rohr and Waikoloa Bowl at Queens’ Gardens – On the Right Course
Rohr’s accomplishments also include concepting and building the Waikoloa Bowl at Queens’ Gardens, where major concerts and monthly events over the years have brought the local community and resort guests together to enjoy music, food, and culture.
Waikoloa Resort also benefitted tremendously from Rohr’s commitment to and love of golf. He oversaw renovations to the Robert Trent Jones II course, and built the Kings’ Course in partnership with designer and former PGA Tour player Tom Weiskopf.
As he did at Kapalua years earlier, Rohr brought well known golf pros including Peter Jacobsen, Brad Faxon, Brandel Chamblee, David Feherty, Scott Simpson, and Gary McCord to the resort to play in the Kings’ Cup and the Barefoot TieBreaker, along with celebrities such as Clint Eastwood, Bill Murray, and others. “Mark Rolfing got ESPN to broadcast the event,” Rohr says, “and that really helped put us on the map.” In those years, Peter Jacobsen and Cindy Rarick represented Waikoloa on their respective professional tours.
The LPGA’s Takefuji Classic was contested on the Beach Course in 2002, with Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam prevailing. That event was also notable as the first professional tournament for the then-12- year-old Michelle Wie.
Rohr’s flair for promotion extended beyond the golf course, too. In 1989, for example, he and Palmer got Bob Hope — who at one time lived in Cleveland and was a friend of Rohr’s father — to stop at Waikoloa on his way home from Thailand to record “Bob Hope’s Christmas Special” starring Hope, Naomi and Wynonna Judd, and Barbara Eden.
“If you look around today, you see an established resort with quite a lot to offer,” Head says. “But it took a lot of hard work, vision, and determination to get here.”
Sounds a lot like the qualities The Commish brought to the table.