By Frank Cho
Advertiser Staff Writer
Amfac/JMB Hawai‘i, one of the state’s oldest and largest private landowners, said yesterday Gary Grottke has decided to resign as president to pursue other interests.
Grottke, 45, who has been president of Amfac/JMB since April 1997, said he wants to focus full-time on Quintus Resorts LLC, a Chicago-based time-share resort company where he is co-president.
Amfac named Gary Nickele to replace Grottke. Nickele has been associated with Northbrook Corp., Amfac’s parent company, since 1998 and has been involved in a number of Amfac-related issues, the company said.
Amfac/ JMB Hawaii is the contemporary incarnation of Amfac Inc. — once Hawaii’s largest corporation. That firm was acquired in late 1988 by JMB Realty Corp. of Chicago.
Since then, the company has undergone changes, including shutting down its O‘ahu and Kaua‘i sugar operations, losing Liberty House in a three-year Bankruptcy Court fight, and seeing the value of its Hawai‘i real estate decline. It has sold thousands of acres of land to pay off debt and moved its headquarters to Maui.
The company owns about 5,000 acres on Maui and 17,000 acres on Kaua‘i, where it has both golf course and diversified agricultural operations.
Grottke has been involved with Quintus since it was formed three years ago. The company now owns three time share resorts, including the Hanalei Bay Resort on Kaua‘i.
"I became very interested in the time-share industry several years ago while planning the Kaanapali Ocean Resort on West Maui," Grottke said. "I am excited about being able to devote full time to Quintus, but am disappointed that I will not be able to finish everything that I have been working on at Amfac," he said in a statement yesterday to The Advertiser.
Amfac has sold the land and plans for the Kaanapali Ocean Resort to Starwood Vacation Ownership, which is now developing it.
Grottke plans to remain a consultant with Amfac until the end of the year.
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