Moloka'i foundation hopes to revive colorful inn
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau
A Moloka'i community group has been given the chance to purchase the famed Pau Hana Inn and run it as a nonprofit entity and teaching hotel.
But the Pau Hana 'Ohana Community Foundation only has until June 10 to raise $875,000.
Fabrizio Medosi, general manager of C&K Hawai'i Inc., said yesterday if the foundation comes up with the cash in time, his company will work with the group on paying the remainder of the purchase price, which he did not disclose.
C&K Hawai'i has entered into a contract to buy the hotel from Moloka'i Ranch. Escrow closes June 15.
The Pau Hana Inn in Kaunakakai, the social center on Moloka'i for over 50 years, closed two years ago.
The foundation wants to revive the old inn to establish the state's first hotel operated as a community-based economic development project. The plan is to reopen the hotel as a nonprofit corporation that would help fund social and environmental programs.
Board members also want the Pau Hana Inn to be a "teaching hotel" where students in Maui Community College programs could learn to run a real hotel.
Foundation member DeGray Vanderbilt said the board needs a $875,000 loan that would be secured by a mortgage on the hotel.
"Thirty days is not much time for our community to raise $875,000, but we're going to try our best to meet the deadline,'' Vanderbilt said.
Earlier, C&K Hawai'i attorney Todd K. Apo said the investment hui was interested in reopening the Pau Hana Inn as an economy hotel. He said the company wants to renovate the existing structures and add up to 40 new rooms on adjacent parcels in a second phase.
Vanderbilt said he figures it would take $1.5 million to buy the property and an additional $1.9 million for renovations. The Pau Hana 'Ohana Foundation hopes to cash in on grants available because Moloka'i has been designated a federal enterprise zone.
Meanwhile, the Maui County Council last week approved a zoning change that would allow a hotel to reopen at the oceanfront site near Kaunakakai Harbor. The property had reverted to interim zoning when it closed.
