The popular Maui Swap Meet is preparing to move to a new 4 1/2-acre site at Maui Community College.

The swap meet has been operating for 17 years on a parcel between Pu'unene and Kamehameha avenues, attracting 200 or so vendors and crowds of more than 3,000 residents and visitors every Saturday.

The property is scheduled for development as a county affordable housing project, so Maui Exposition Inc., which operates the swap meet, had to find a new location. The company spent nearly $300,000 on improvements at a drainage basin at MCC to accommodate the event.

While the Saturday swap meets will continue for the next couple of weeks at the old site, the new MCC site is hosting Sunday swap meets on a smaller scale until the move is complete.

Wil Wong of Maui Expositions said the first Saturday event at the new site will be Jan. 3, with a grand opening Jan. 10.