Kauai County has purchased 417 acres of former sugar cane plantation land between Waimea and Kekaha for potential housing, recreation and other economic development opportunities.

The county announced the purchase Monday from Kikiaola Land Co. Ltd. for $5.3 million.

Kauai Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami thanked the Faye family connected with Kikiaola Land for selling the property to the county.

“The Faye(s) have been longtime stewards of this important area, and we at the County of Kauai are humbled to take responsibility for this land,” Kawakami said in a statement. “This $5.3 million sale will provide the potential to discuss future recreation, housing, and economic uses with the Westside community. We look forward to engaging with the community about the future.”

George Christensen, board chairman of Kikiaola Land, said in a statement that the company and Faye family members believe the sale will “breathe new life” into west Kauai.

“For close to a century, this acreage was some of the most productive sugar cane land in the Hawaiian islands,” Christensen said in the statement. “Now, after lying mostly fallow for decades, it will become productive again.”

Kikiaola Land is a family business that originated as H.P. Faye &Co., a sugar plantation started by Hans Peter Faye in Mana near Barking Sands. Faye had a hand in merging three plantations into Kekaha Sugar Co., and descendents through Kikiaola Land started a vacation rental business using former sugar plantation homes operated as Waimea Plantation Cottages.