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The state Board of Land and Natural Resources agreed Friday to give the owner of the Heeia Pier General Store and Deli another year to bring his debt current before entertaining a motion to pull its state lease.
Ed Underwood, administrator of the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation, recommended that the board revoke the state lease with principal Russ Inouye because the business owed $39,012 in back rent and had not paid its performance bond. Additionally, Underwood said his office had been receiving complaints that a required fuel dock was not operational and that the business was running out of food.
"We aren’t hot to kick them out of the harbor, but they need to get the back rent current," Underwood said.
Inouye said unforeseen circumstances, including the loss of his partner Mark Noguchi and site construction, contributed to the delinquencies. He’s working with AKAMAI Capital LLC, the investment arm of the AKAMAI Foundation, a nonprofit community development financial institution, to get back on track.
"We’re entering the busy season and construction is about to end, so we’re hoping to sustain enough business to stay current and then cure the back rent," said Inouye, whose fishing shack has been featured in Travel + Leisure and on the Cooking Channel and Food Network.
