Luxury subdivision planned
By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer
A local development partnership has announced plans to add a 10th residential subdivision to Mauna Kea Resort on the Big Island, a 102-home project that would be the biggest at the resort community where home lots often sell for more than $1 million.
Honolulu-based Blackpoint Capital Advisors LLC, Big Island developer Maryl Group and Mauna Kea resident James Dollens said they plan to begin sales and construction this fall on the subdivision surrounded by the Hapuna Golf Course.
The project, called Wai'ulaula, is envisioned to include a mix of single-family homes starting at around $3 million, and condominiums starting at about $1 million.
Wai'ulaula is the latest in a big push of home building, catering mostly to wealthy West Coast residents, at Hawai'i resorts.
Last week, developers Stanford Carr and a partnership between Brookfield Homes and Alexander & Baldwin Inc. announced plans for a few hundred high-end homes at Mauna Lani Resort, which is not far from Mauna Kea Resort along the Kohala Coast.
As the area's first and oldest luxury resort, the 40-year-old Mauna Kea has been the slowest to develop, but has maintained a low-density community spread over 1,839 acres.
There are just 250 homes, including a handful under development. The most recent project, called Kauna'oa, started sales at the end of last year and has sold 11 of 14 home lots released to date for about $1 million to $4 million, and six townhomes released to date for $3.5 million to $4 million.
The Wai'ulaula development team anticipates taking three years to complete its subdivision, which is on 48 acres recently purchased for an undisclosed price from resort owner Mauna Kea Development Corp.
"We're anxious to get started," said Mark Richards, Maryl Group president. "The market's receptive. We want to be there for the buyers."
Seibu Railway Group of Japan owns Mauna Kea Development and the resort, which was started by financier Laurence Rockefeller in 1964-65 with the opening of the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel and Mauna Kea Golf Course.
Today the resort also includes the Hapuna Golf Course, which opened in 1992, and the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel, which opened in 1994. Seibu also owns the Makena Resort on Maui and the Hawai'i Prince Hotel in Waikiki.
Maryl is a major commercial and residential developer based in Kailua, Kona. The company recently has been selling homes for about $1.5 million each at The Villages, a 130-home project at Mauna Lani, where the company is also developing a shopping center.
Blackpoint Capital is a boutique investment banking firm founded last year by former Bank of Hawaii managers Gary Iki and Timothy John Young.
An investment fund managed by Boston-based AEW Capital Management is providing financing for the Wai'ulaula project, which area resident Dollens initiated.
Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8065.
