Waikiki may get its second free-standing wedding hall in a year as a Japanese bridal company plans to build a three-story, steeple-topped chapel on Kuhio Avenue.

Tokyo-based Good Luck Corp. purchased a lot at the corner of Kuhio and Kai'olu Street, which once housed a health clinic, for $2.9 million and plans to build a 6,000-square-foot chapel.

The chapel would follow one opened earlier this year at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort & Spa and signals strong demand for weddings in Hawai'i.

Reactions to the new chapel ranged from those who welcome a new draw for tourists to neighbors concerned the building would add traffic to a highly congested street and change the character of the area.

The company needs a Waikiki Special District permit for the project. That involves making a presentation to the Neighborhood Board and submitting an environmental assessment. A Waikiki Neighborhood Board meeting Tuesday will take up the issue.

"It's not going to fit in," said Jeff Apaka, who lives across the street from the proposed project. "It's not the Hawaiian sense of place, period. It belongs somewhere ... away from here, like Vegas, and not in this vicinity here."

Apaka said he's concerned limousines and other vehicles for the weddings will block buses on Kuhio Avenue and cause traffic problems on Kai'olu Street, which he said already is known for accidents because of a lack of traffic lights and parking for residents.

"If people want to get married in chapels, why put a Central Union steeple chapel on Kuhio Avenue? It's uncalled for. It's the wrong place. We don't need it here."

An employee of Good Luck Corp. in Tokyo said no one was immediately available to comment on traffic or other concerns. Miyoko Yoshimura, investor relations manager for Take and Give Needs Co., an affiliate in Tokyo, said the companies hope to start weddings at the Kuhio chapel in January and will likely hold no more than four a day.

Neighborhood board chairman Robert Finley said that while some residents have concerns, he needs more information before taking a position on the chapel.

"I don't know enough about it to know if it's a good project or if it's going to impact the community down there," Finley said. "I'm sure it will impact. I'm not sure if it will be positive or negative."

Good Luck Corp., which uses the trade name Arluis, will operate only the second free-standing wedding chapel in Waikiki, said Karen Mukai, vice president of Best Bridal Hawaii, a subsidiary of a Japanese company. Best Bridal opened the first at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort & Spa in January. Mukai questioned the location of the Arluis chapel, noting that wedding companies typically want beachside venues.

"I don't know what their business plan is except that given what we know about destination weddings from the Mainland or other parts of the world, the main reason they choose Hawai'i is for blue sky, blue ocean, the beaches and the paradise feeling. That location is kind of in the middle of Kuhio. So I don't really know the merits of it."

Good Luck Corp.'s agent, Kane'ohe-based AKTA Ltd. Architects, will present details of the proposal at the neighborhood board meeting on Tuesday.

"The proposed new chapel design was developed in response to the demand for a formal urban wedding chapel located within walking distance of Waikiki hotels," said AKTA project manager Brad Smith in a letter to the neighborhood board chairman. "The building and grounds will provide a landmark project consisting of a three-story building with a footprint less than half the area of the parcel. It will be surrounded by mature landscape and gardens, including shallow reflecting pools. The building architecture can best be described as reminiscent of the monarch period (1851-1893), combining exterior elements of an urban chapel set within gardens visible through decorative iron fencing."

David Tanoue, deputy director of the city Department of Planning and Permitting, said AKTA's draft environmental assessment was rejected because it was incomplete and must be revised.

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com.