Jon T. Eicholtz

A graduate of the University of Kansas in architectural engineering, Eicholtz spent nearly a decade in Hawaii before joining Pankow in 1978. As a project manager for Swinerton & Walberg, he managed the construction of the 1,800-room Sheraton Waikiki, the largest convention hotel in the world at the time of its completion, in 1971. Originally designed as a cast-in-place structure with reinforced concrete floor slabs bearing against six pairs of buttresses, Eicholtz and structural engineer Richard R. Bradshaw, with whom Charlie Pankow had worked at both Peter Kiewit Sons' and Charles Pankow, Inc., collaborated with the architects during contract negotiations to produce a slipformed structure combined with a one-way steel frame. The modifications cut costs by half, Eicholtz estimated. ENR called the project "one of the most complex, if not one of the largest slipforming jobs in the world." If Charlie Pankow read the article, he surely would have smiled with satisfaction, for it validated the design-build approach on which the reputation of his firm rested.

After the Sheraton Waikiki opened, Eicholtz took an executive vice president position with Pacific Construction Company. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Hawaii Corporation, Pacific was one of the largest contractors in the Pacific Basin. In 1972 Eicholtz became its president. Later he was CEO. In 1978 The Hawaii Corporation went bankrupt. Pacific emerged from the bankruptcy proceedings as a new entity. The Bank of Hawaii held the stock of the company until a buyer could be found. During this period, Eicholtz became Pacific's chairman of the board, too. He agreed to stay on for six months, if a buyer were found. In the event, Artec Construction, a subsidiary of the interests of Clint W. Murchison, Jr., son of the Texas oil baron and the original owner of the Dallas Cowboys National Football League franchise, acquired the firm. Eicholtz joined Pankow in Hawaii soon thereafter.

During his tenure with Pacific Construction, Eicholtz had become friends with George Hutton, who headed Pankow's operations in Hawaii from 1965 until he resigned in September 1991. Both men were active in the local chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America. Eicholtz had served a term as its president. He was also president of a construction industry legislative group. When Eicholtz resigned from Pacific Construction, Hutton approached him about joining the company. Charlie Pankow flew to Honolulu and offered him a job in business development. Eicholtz accepted and began to work out of the Honolulu office. As George Hutton was already generating as much work as Pankow could handle, it soon became apparent that Eicholtz's role in development was redundant. As a result, Eicholtz relocated to Southern California.

Eicholtz spent eight years with Pankow. In that time, he brought two major projects to fruition: 10560 Wilshire, a 22-story luxury condominium, named for its address along Los Angeles's Wilshire Corridor, and Catalina Landing, a 740,000-square foot, multiple-building project that extended along the Long Beach, California waterfront on land owned by San Francisco-based Crowley Maritime, the operator of a ferry service to Catalina Island.

Since his departure from the Pankow organization, Eicholtz has continued to develop real estate, often in conjunction with Russell J. Osterman, one of original partners in Charles Pankow, Inc. Osterman had retired in 1989 to manage his personal real estate holdings, including those tied to development projects that he and Charlie Pankow had undertaken during the 1970s and 1980s. Together, Eicholtz and Osterman have focused on acquiring, rehabilitating, and reselling multi-unit residential properties.

He lives in Beverly Hills with his wife, Barbara Eden, the actress.