KAPALUA, HI-En route to a $300-million redevelopment of Kapalua Bay Hotel here and neighboring Kapalua Shops, a joint venture led by publicly traded Maui Land & Pineapple Co. Inc. voluntarily filed an environmental impact statement preparation notice this week with the State Office of Environmental Quality Control. The other members of the joint venture are Marriott International and Exclusive Resorts LLC. The 196-room hotel is currently operated under Marriott’s Renaissance brand. Plans are to raze the hotel in the spring of 2006, making way for a new destination property that will have both transient and residential units including the Ritz-Carlton Club fractional ownership, condominium residences, an oceanside spa and a beach club. The development also will include a health and wellness village in partnership with Miraval, Life In Balance.The design of the buildings is still under way, but it has already been determined that the new buildings will be set back further from the coastline than the existing buildings, enabling enhanced shoreline access. A shoreline trail also will be created and connected to Kapalua’s expanding trail system, according to an announcement from the developers.The master-planned Kapalua Resort, a destination resort in West Maui, encompasses three beaches, 54-holes of award-winning golf, the 548-room Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua, the Kapalua Bay Hotel and the 292-unit Kapalua Villas. The resort hosts the annual Mercedes Championships, Celebration of the Arts, Kapalua Wine and Food Festival and LifeFest Kapalua. The Kapalua Bay Hotel will continue to operate until redevelopment begins in the spring of 2006. The remainder of the Kapalua Resort community, including the 548-room Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua, will continue operating without interruption from the redevelopment, which is expected to be completed in the spring of 2008. Maui Land & Pineapple Co. owns approximately 29,000 acres on Maui. Its primary operations presently include cultivating, processing and distributing Maui-grown pineapple, operating the Kapalua Resort, and creating and managing holistic communities on Maui. Meanwhile, owners of the 642-acre Ko Olina Resort & Marina on the southwestern coast of Oahu last week unveiled plans for Grand Ko Olina Resort, Hotel & Spa, a billion-dollar resort project that will include a 25-acre interactive aquarium adventure lagoon and cultural education center. Jeffrey R. Stone, master developer of Ko Olina Resort & Marina, says the project will provide over 1,000 new jobs.Plans for the Grand Ko Olina Resort, Hotel & Spa include an ocean front hotel/condominium, vacation club components and a Hawaiian village surrounding the Grand Ko Olina aquarium that will feature an adventure lagoon that offers guests the encounter tiger sharks, hammerheads and reefs. The project is being designed by Takeshi Sekiguchi, one of the original visionaries and developers of Ko Olina Resort as well as the Grand Wailea, Four Seasons Wailea and some of Hawaii’s top golf courses.
Home to seven lagoons connected by 1.5 miles of shoreline pathways, Ko Olina Resort & Marina already includes the JW Marriott Ihilani Resort & Spa at Ko Olina, Marriott’s Ko Olina Beach Club, the 18-hole Ted Robinson-designed Ko Olina Golf Club and the 270-slip Ko Olina Marina. In addition, three new successful resort residential projects, Kai Lani, Coconut Plantations, and Ko Olina Kai, are under construction. Plans for Grand Ko Olina Resort, Hotel & Spa will be supported by a $75-million tax credit that has been approved by Gov. Linda Lingle. The tax credit will be disbursed over 10 years. Developers are hoping to begin the first phase of construction by the end of the year.