Home Lands leases 200 acres for Kona project
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands has signed an agreement to lease 200 acres for a Big Island commercial project as part of its drive to generate revenue and its goal to create larger master-planned communities that provide job opportunities as well as homes for Hawaiian homesteaders.
The project, called Kona Kai Ola, will be built by Kona Marina Development Group LLC and is envisioned as a project with a core of retail shops and theaters. The company is a limited partnership involving Menehune Development Co. and Atlanta-based Jacoby Development Inc.
The announcement was made yesterday by department director Micah Kane as well as the two principal partners, Fred Yamashiro of Menehune and Jim Jacoby of JDI.
The property is adjacent to the Honokahau Small Boat Harbor and bordered by the Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway and Kealakehe Parkway. Located mauka of the site are the 225 homes of Laiopua, an area the department plans to more than double in housing capacity.
The partners held their first meeting in October with residents who highlighted a need for a community center, a canoe club and open space, said Jacoby, who added that he hopes construction will begin in 2005.
"The time is right," he said. "The interest rates are low. And the need for other services is there."
The lease will generate a minimum of $6.5 million over the next 10 years, Kane said, a beginning toward finding revenue to replace the annual $30 million payments the department receives in a settlement with the state to compensate for homelands that government took from the inventory.
Over the 65-year lease, the projected revenue is a minimum of $64 million, Kane said.
Kane said the partnership is due to submit a proposed master plan in 12 months for approval by the state Hawaiian Homes Commission. The development mix may include a golf course as well as resort, retail and other commercial elements, he said.
The master plan deadline could be extended if the partnership acquires development rights to adjacent state-owned property, according to the agreement.
The accord also calls for the partners to establish a nonprofit corporation or foundation to support and promote community development, community healthcare, job training, and education and cultural programs and projects by December 2006. The partnership will provide an initial endowment of $100,000.
The opportunities of the nonprofit will be for people residing on the Big Island, with an emphasis for North Kona residents and Native Hawaiians, according to the agreement.
Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.
