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STAR-ADVERTISER / JUNE 11, 2013
The state and the owner of Turtle Bay Resort reached an agreement Thursday for the resort to sell some of its development rights to the state for $48.5 million in a deal that will preserve 665.8 acres of undeveloped land at the North Shore property.
The owner of Turtle Bay Resort has agreed to sell some of its development rights to the state for $48.5 million in a deal that will preserve 665.8 acres of undeveloped land at the North Shore property.
The agreement was announced today by Gov. Neil Abercrombie, and culminated a long community effort to limit expansion of the resort previously approved for development of up to 3,500 hotel and condominium units.
Under the agreement, the state agreed to pay $40 million for what is called a conservation easement that preserves the land in perpetuity. The city will provide $5 million, and the Trust for Public Land will chip in $3.5 million.
Turtle Bay will retain about 150 acres fronting the ocean on either side of the resort’s existing hotel for development of two additional hotels with a combined 625 rooms and 100 homes.
Completing the easement purchase is subject to the Legislature providing the state’s share of the deal, which would be in the form of general obligation bonds. The City Council previously appropriated its share, which Mayor Kirk Caldwell said he will release.
