A partnership that acquired Makena Beach and Golf Resort out of foreclosure six years ago has set out a $355 million expansion plan to add 148 multimillion-dollar residences and a small retail center to the Maui property while an initial plan to convert the resort’s 310-room hotel into a high-end condominium progresses.
ATC Makena Holdings LLC
recently published a draft
environmental assessment for
the proposed expansion, which would spread the residences
over 47 acres partly fronting the Makena North golf course.
The plan, which ATC anticipates it can carry out over three to five years, represents a second stage in remaking the resort on Maui’s southern shore.
ATC acquired the 1,800-acre resort in 2010 out of foreclosure after the prior owner, Maui developer Everett Dowling, got caught in constricting financial and real estate markets while trying to turn the property into an ultra-luxury vacation destination.
Dowling had bought the resort from Japan-based Seibu Group for $575 million in 2007 with financial help from Morgan Stanley Real Estate, Honolulu-based Trinity Investments and other investors. But the debt couldn’t be serviced and Dowling lost the property in foreclosure to ATC, which includes Trinity, Hawaii developer Stanford Carr and Los Angeles-based Ares Management LP formerly known as AREA Property Partners.
ATC remodeled one of the two 18-hole Robert Trent Jones Jr. championship golf courses and reopened it as a private club. The other golf course was closed by Dowling and is slated to be renovated and reopened later.
In mid-2014, ATC received approval to convert the 310-room hotel once known as the Maui Prince into a 50-unit luxury condo with a private beach club, new pool and spa, restaurant space and a fitness area. Also as part of that plan, 26 single-family and multifamily residences are to be added to the hotel grounds.
Kaimi Judd, development vice president of Discovery Land Co., an Arizona-based firm handling the redevelopment for ATC, said sales have been good since they began in August. He said six of eight home sites available have sold for an average of $8 million each. Condo prices range from about $3 million to $20 million.
Judd said he couldn’t project a timetable for starting construction on this first phase, which will depend on reaching certain sales goals. Until then, the hotel remains open. Once construction starts, work is expected to take 25 months.
The second stage is broken down onto three parcels that already are zoned for residential and commercial use. The biggest parcel is 22 acres on which ATC plans to develop 52 multifamily units, 15 custom home lots and a pool complex. A second parcel that is 16 acres is planned for 36 multifamily units, 11 custom home lots, 20 single-family homes and a pool complex. The third parcel is 9 acres and is planned for 10 transient vacation rentals and a 34,900-square-foot commercial center topped with 14 residential apartments.
ATC projects sale prices to be $3.9 million for the multifamily units, $5.5 million for the custom-home lots, $3.3 million for the single-family homes, $3.6 million for the transient vacation rentals and $2.9 million for the residential apartments.
Under Maui County regulations, ATC is required to produce affordable housing as part of its expansion project. But the developer said in the environmental assessment that it intends to satisfy this requirement by submitting previously acquired credits to the county.
There also are several archaeological sites on the property that include pre-Western contact habitation sites, agricultural sites and historic ranching sites, some of which the State Historic Preservation Division recommends for preservation.
Discovery Land calls the new vision a “gentle evolution” of a resort area previously planned for more dense development. “With new ownership, Discovery Land Co. is re-imagining what Makena can be,” the company said on its website.