Maui Construction Projects

[urbanguy]

Hello, I will begin to add some projects that are proposed, approved or underconstruction on Maui in this thread to give everyone an idea of whats going on outside of Honolulu in the state of Hawaii.

Note: I will add more soon and renderings if i can find any.

A&B plans mixed-use Kahului condo project

Alexander & Baldwin Inc. plans to develop a mix of residential and commercial condominiums on Maui, the company's second planned mixed-use project in Kahului.

A subsidiary of A&B Properties expects to begin selling an initial phase of 14 units of the project's 103 residential condos at a lottery limited to prospective owner-occupants on May 31.

Depending on the response from buyers and the permitting process, construction could begin in mid-2007 and be completed in 2008.

The project, 'Aina o Kane, is on property bordered by Kane, Vevau and School streets

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I think this will be another factor that will increase office development on Maui

Source: Star Bulletin

Maui's commercial buildings have little space

Vacancy on the Valley Isle has fallen in the past several years to 4.2 percent from more than 20 percent

Quarters are tight and digs are expensive for office and retail tenants on Maui, as development has not kept pace with the island's phenomenal growth, according to a midyear report released yesterday by commercial real estate firm Colliers Monroe Friedlander Inc.

Vacancy rates for Maui's rental office market have fallen from a high of more than 20 percent in 2001 to 4.2 percent in 2006. At the same time, rental rates have skyrocketed with net rents rising 18 percent over the past year, said Mike Hamasu, director of consulting and research at Colliers Monroe Friedlander.

Maui's office tenants, who are experiencing their sixth consecutive year of rent increases, are paying an average net asking rent of $1.93 per square foot a month, Hamasu said.

The 29-cent increase over the previous year represents the largest annual increase in rents since the early 1990s, he said.

"Contributing to this solid office market performance was the strong job growth experienced among Maui's office sector," Hamasu said. "Over the past three year, more than 1,100 new office jobs were added to payrolls."

A 17.8 percent increase in jobs on Maui has added more than 200,000 square feet of occupancy since December 2002, he said.

Increased residential development and strong tourism on Maui also strengthened the retail market, Hamasu said.

"The tremendous amount of residential development is attracting many U.S. mainland buyers with a high level of affluence that Maui retailers are now becoming accustomed to," he said.

Many national retailers are beginning to eye Maui for its growing affluence and rising personal incomes, Hamasu said.

Maui's retail vacancy rates dropped to 4.9 percent, the lowest in a decade, and asking rents jumped 14.2 percent to an average of $3.79 per square foot a month.

Maui's office and retail markets are expected to continue strengthening, but eventually could run out of room, Hamasu said.

"The biggest issue to future growth is the shortage of labor, the cost of construction and the lengthy entitlement process," he said. "All of these things could impair development."

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Construction Begins on Maui Retail Center

Construction has started on West Maui

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Updates:

Aina O Kane - Kahului, Maui

Source: A&B properties

This mixed-use project will consist of 103 residential condominiums above 19,800 square feet of commercial condominium space.

Kahului Airport Hotel

Development of a 130+ room business-oriented hotel, with excellent access to the Kahului Airport on Maui, to fulfill the needs for a moderately-priced, quality facility in Central Maui.

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Maui moving to discourage time shares

Source: Pacific Business News

With nearly 2,300 new time-share units set to be built by 2010, Maui County officials are trying to discourage more development by imposing higher taxes, even though a new study they commissioned found that time-share owners weren't a drain in the economy.

Despite the study's findings, some county officials say time-share development is out of control and threatening the direction of Maui's carefully tended upscale tourism industry.

"I don't see it being a need in our county to have time share," said G. Riki Hokama, Maui County Council chairman. "That's not the visitor I want here."

The dramatic growth of time-share projects prompted the county last year to create Hawaii's first property tax category specifically for those properties. The tax is $14 on every $1,000 of a property's assessed value. Officials on Kauai and the Big Island are considering similar taxes.

The Maui County Council also proposed that time shares have their own zoning category so that government can regulate development. But state legislators shot down the proposal earlier this year.

Even as brands like Ritz-Carlton get into what they call the "fractional ownership" of luxurious condominiums at Kapalua in 21-day increments starting at $300,000, Maui officials say they are convinced time-share owners are contributing less in taxes than hotel guests and requiring more public services like roads and water.

Officials say they also are concerned that converting hotels to time shares will put people out of work and will lead to more people crowding the highways because time shares are usually booked 52 weeks a year, unlike hotels that rarely hit 100 percent occupancy.

Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa said the objective of the tax is to discourage wholesale conversions of large resorts into time shares, which he believes takes away from the convention business and will send the wrong message to affluent visitors.

"We have to be careful that we don't overdo it and don't destroy the very industry that's brought us to the top," Arakawa said.

The council paid Hospitality Advisors, a Honolulu-based tourism consultancy, $75,000 to prepare a report reviewing the impact of time-share conversions. The study, based on state data, found that time-share visitors account for only 1.8 percent of the daily island census and that what is really driving the overcrowding is the number of people moving to Maui.

While time-share visitors spend less than hotel guests, they stay slightly longer and spend more per person per day on nonlodging than condominium visitors, the study found.

"There's no question that tourism contributes to the pressure on Maui's infrastructure," said Joseph Toy, president and CEO of Hospitality Advisors. "However, we were asked to look specifically at impacts from time-share conversions, which appear to be a small part of the overall market."

Executives of time-share properties say they already are paying their fair share in taxes, which are passed on to customers through the transient occupancy tax applied to maintenance fees. Time-share managers are still unhappy about the jump in the new property tax from $8 per $1,000 in 2005 to $14 this year.

"When you jump it up 75 percent in one year that's a real shock," said Chad Jensen, general manager of Marriott's Ko Olina Beach Club and chairman of the Hawaii chapter of the American Resort Development Association. "It certainly doesn't help time-share development because it adds to costs for developers because they're responsible for paying for the unsold weeks."

Hotel executives contend the foremost benefit of time share is its high and consistent occupancy, which tends to be less affected by world events and downturns in the economy.

"What it does for the local economy is keeps people employed," said Craig Anderson, general manager of the Westin Maui. "If this wasn't something people were interested in it wouldn't be selling. People are voting with their pocketbooks and companies are responding to market demand."

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Here's an update for Maui:

550-unit subdivision planned on Maui

Source: Honolulu Advertiser

Real-estate developers are proposing to convert 210 acres of prime but fallow Maui farmland into a largely rural 550-unit subdivision with 310 houselots and 240 townhomes in Wailuku.

The plan would help alleviate a Central Maui housing shortage but could inflame concerns over water use and traffic.

The planned subdivision called Pu'unani also is expected to become part of the debate over using high-quality, but vacant, agricultural land to develop homes, including badly needed affordable housing, on an island with the state's highest housing prices.

Towne Development of Hawai'i Inc. and two partners recently petitioned the state Land Use Commission to re-classify the 210-acre site from agricultural to rural and urban use. The commission will schedule public hearings on the proposal, which also would need Maui County Council approval for community plan and zoning changes.

Towne envisions developing 240 townhomes, 90 single-family house lots, 214 half-acre house- lots and six 1-acre houselots for a total of 550 potential residences. A 14.6-acre park also is part of the plan.

Lucienne De Naie, chairwoman of the Sierra Club's Hawai'i Chapter, said Pu'unani would be one of the largest subdivisions proposed or under construction in the area, and would have a major impact on traffic and water use.

"Traffic is a big concern ... and we're a long way from knowing how much water we have," she said. "It seems like we're planning by wishful thinking."

But De Naie also said she hears a constant clamor from residents wanting work force and affordable housing. "Every day I hear the same thing," she said. "We're at a crossroads, and we need to take care of the people who live here first."

Maui home prices in the recent real-estate boom have routinely set statewide records, and in June, median sale prices were $758,000 for single-family homes and $675,000 for condominiums.

Pu'unani would include a mix of market-priced and below-market homes, but no rough price estimates are being made because the project is in such an early conceptual stage, said Mike Munekiyo, a planning consultant with Munekiyo & Hiraga Inc. working with Towne.

Under county guidelines, 30 percent of the project, or 165 units, would be sold at prices affordable to buyers earning no more than 120 percent of Maui's median income, or $78,840 for a family of four. The county and developer, however, could negotiate a different affordable housing agreement.

Munekiyo said Towne is preparing an environmental impact statement that will include a traffic study. The environmental review also would address water supply, which is expected from a new well being developed in Waikapu that draws from the 'Iao aquifer where there has been concern of overpumping.

"Water is an issue," Munekiyo said, adding that the developer will assess possible alternate water sources.

Converting high-quality farmland for housing is expected to be of lesser concern because of the site's proximity to residential areas.

The project site had been used by Wailuku Agribusiness Co. to grow sugar cane until 1988, and thereafter was leased to Maui Land & Pineapple Co. for pineapple cultivation until 2003, according to Towne's filing.

Today the property is vacant and bordered on only one side by agriculture land. The residential subdivisions Kehalani, Wailuku Heights II and Waiolani Mauka face other sides of the property.

"The conversion of agricultural lands to rural and urban uses is prudent and reasonable given the property's location," Towne said in its land-use filing.

Towne added that large-scale farming is no longer appropriate or economically viable on the site given its location, and that the loss of a small portion of Maui's agriculture land is outweighed by benefits to housing supply and job creation that the project would bring.

Small-scale farming, Towne said, would still be permitted by owners of the proposed rural lots. "We don't want to discourage (farming) if the owners want to pursue that," Munekiyo said.

The developer said in its land-use petition that it anticipates starting the project in 2009 if it can obtain approvals. An estimated timetable for completing the subdivision has not been made.

Partnering with Towne are Endurance Investors LLC, a company involving Steve Goodfellow of Maui construction firm Goodfellow Bros., and Association of II Wai Hui, a partnership led by Lloyd Sodetani of Maui Realty Co. Inc.

According to property records, Sodetani and Endurance Investors bought a 60-acre piece of the site in 2002 for about $2.3 million. Towne has an option to buy the roughly 150-acre balance from owner Wailuku Kuikahi LLC, which bought the property in 2004 for $4.5 million.

[urbanguy]

Here's some more updates. I can't really tell what this place will look like because the rendering isn't a close up but i like the idea of Maui getting into mixed-use development. It's a good start.

Kahului plan mixes retail, condos

Source: Honolulu Advertiser

The Kahului Shopping Center, as it appears now, above, will be transformed into the Kahului Town Center, top, with buildings rising as many as five stories and residential units above ground-floor stores. Architectural design would vary to reflect plantation-era, Neoclassical and Mission Revival styles.

Alexander & Baldwin Inc. has adjusted its redevelopment plans for the fire-damaged Kahului Shopping Center on Maui to include 442 residential condominiums mixed with retail and office tenants.

The condo component of the "urban village" project previously was expected to include 200 to 300 units above expanded retail and office space.

In addition to more condominiums, A&B now plans to divide the 20-acre property, which lost about half its retail buildings to a February 2005 blaze, into four blocks dissected by a pedestrian-oriented Main Street and a smaller road to create a town center for Kahului.

The company laid out its detailed plan for the project called Kahului Town Center in a recent draft environmental assessment filed with state and Maui County agencies.

A&B describes its plan as an example of "smart-growth" development

Edited August 23, 2006 by urbanguy

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The 310-unit second phase known as Konea Tower - Ka'anapali Beach, Maui

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Developers are prospecting to build a half-dozen major shopping complexes on Maui in the next few years as part of the retail boom building up in Hawai'i.

dang that's quite a few getting ready to spring up!

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State plans to build $100M new Maui jail

Source: Honolulu Advertiser

The state may spend $100 million or more on a new 800-bed jail and transition facility that would replace the Maui Community Correctional Center. The project would be the first new jail in Hawai'i in decades and add much-needed space in a county that faces chronic jail crowding.

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Here's an update:

Source: Victory Development

Kai Ani Village

Maalaea Village Condominiums

Kihei Nani Loa Condominiums