Moloka'i inn may receive new life
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau
KAUNAKAKAI, Moloka'i — The legendary Pau Hana Inn was the center for nightlife and social gatherings on this island for more than 50 years. But with aging facilities and declining income, the venerable hotel was finally closed two years ago.
Timothy Hurley • The Honolulu Advertiser
However, there's new hope the Pau Hana Inn isn't quite pau hana. A newly formed investment firm has entered into a sales contract with owner Moloka'i Ranch with a plan to reopen the place as an economy hotel.
The entrance of the Pau Hana Inn, which served as the center for nightlife and social gatherings on Moloka'i for more than 50 years.
Todd K. Apo, attorney for C&K Hawai'i Ltd., said his clients want to renovate the existing structures and add up to 40 new rooms on adjacent parcels in a second phase.
A Maui County Council committee last week voted to recommend a zoning change that will allow a hotel to reopen at the six-acre oceanfront site near Kaunakakai Harbor. The property had reverted to interim zoning when it closed, and the new owners are reapplying for hotel designation.
Apo, who declined to disclose the principal investors in C&K Hawai'i, said the sales contract calls for a due-diligence period that ends the second week of May. Escrow would close June 15. He noted that renovation work would be costly and time-consuming and would not start until hotel zoning is obtained.
"It's still early yet, but the zoning was one of the big questions. It's good news there's support for it,'' he said.
Meanwhile, a community group on Moloka'i continues to push for a plan to reopen the hotel as a nonprofit corporation that would turn over any money it makes to the community for youth, human services, educational and environmental programs.
The Pau Hana 'Ohana Foundation wants to establish the state's first hotel operated as a community-based economic development project. Members want the Pau Hana Inn to also be a "teaching hotel" where students in Maui Community College programs could learn to cook, maintain the facilities and manage a real hotel, according to 'Ohana board member DeGray Vanderbilt.
Timothy Hurley • The Honolulu Advertiser
The foundation was formed as a nonprofit organization in 1998, taking over the 40-room hotel after leaseholder Moloka'i Beach Ltd. announced it would close the facility. About 2,000 Moloka'i residents signed a petition to keep the hotel and its popular Banyan Tree Terrace bar and restaurant operating.
DeGray Vanderbilt and the 'Ohana Foundation want to turn the inn into a "teaching hotel" for Maui Community College students.
While the group was able to keep the hotel operating for a half-year, with the help of volunteers and workers who accepted minimal pay, the ranch shut its doors by the end of 1998 after its insurance expired.
Since then, there have been a number of interested buyers. One of them was Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee Clayton Hee, who had proposed the agency purchase the hotel for $1.4 million and turn it into a Hawaiian language immersion school. But an OHA committee rejected the idea.
The Pau Hana 'Ohana Foundation, meanwhile, has continued to lobby for its community-based development project. Vanderbilt said there are plenty of grants available for such a venture because Moloka'i has been designated a federal enterprise zone. Vanderbilt said he figures it would take $1.5 million to buy the property and an additional $1.9 million for renovations.
Although the foundation is pursuing its idea, Vanderbilt said he also would support the plans of C&K Hawai'i. Perhaps the company can work with the Pau Hana 'Ohana Foundation, he said.
"The key is to get it open as an affordable, kama'aina hotel,'' he said. "As a hotel operation, Pau Hana represents a significant economic asset for our community. It has been estimated that with just 70 percent occupancy, direct visitor spending by guests would total over $2.5 million.''
