Korean firm bids to buy Makaha Valley resort site

A South Korean conglomerate branching into the resort business has made a bid to buy much of Makaha Valley where development plans linked with golf superstar Tiger Woods fizzled in recent years.

An affiliate of Seoul-based KH Group recently made an offer in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Honolulu to buy 644 acres in Makaha Valley for $20.7 million from Canadian firm Pacific Links US Holdings Inc. and seven affiliates.

The purchase offer is subject to a court procedure in which qualified competing bids of at least $21.4 million can be considered in an auction to get the highest price for the property that includes zoning for resort use.

Pacific Links is requesting that any such bids be due by June 29 followed by a July 1 auction.

A new owner of the property is expected to pursue development in the valley where a major resort has been envisioned for over 50 years but was never realized beyond one hotel, two golf courses and relatively few homes.

KH Group appears to have the resources to carry out such a goal, though other companies also have expressed interest in a potential acquisition of the Makaha property.

“We’ve had quite a bit of interest from developers primarily from Korea,” said Chuck Choi, a local attorney representing Pacific Links in the bankruptcy case.

KH Group was established as an electronics company in 1975 and since has expanded into a behemoth with about 10,000 employees and over $800 million in annual revenue spread over industries that include broadcasting, metal die-casting, construction and real estate development.

The company acquired the Grand Hyatt Seoul hotel in 2019, and last year won an auction to buy Alpensia Resort, a Korean ski resort that served as a venue for the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.

KH Gangwon Development Inc., which submitted the bid for the Makaha property, was formed to purchase Alpensia, which includes ski slopes, 45 holes of golf, a water park and three hotels. The resort’s new owner has touted plans to develop more of the property to make it the “best resort in Korea.”

A somewhat similarly grand vision was once held for Makaha Valley.

The valley in West Oahu where sugarcane once grew was originally positioned for development by local business tycoon Chinn Ho, who floated plans in the 1950s to turn 3,000 acres of the valley and surrounding land including beachfront property into a resort with eight or nine hotels, around 7,000 homes, mountain-ledge restaurants accessible only by cable car, shopping, hiking, fishing, hunting, horseback riding and other activities.

Ho, who developed Waikiki’s Ilikai hotel in 1964, built two golf courses in Makaha Valley along with a 200-room hotel that opened in 1969. But the operations struggled under subsequent owners. The hotel closed in 1995 and was razed in 2014. One golf course continues to operate, but the other has been closed for a decade.

Pacific Links bought Makaha Golf Club West in 2011 and two years later acquired Makaha Valley Country Club, formerly known as Makaha East, along with the shuttered hotel and undeveloped sites.

In 2016, the company unveiled a plan to develop up to 766 visitor accommodation units and homes on the 644-acre property in partnership with local developer Stanford Carr. In 2019, Pacific Links announced that TGR Design led by Woods would redevelop the shuttered western course as the centerpiece of its envisioned new resort.

Pacific Links, however, struggled financially and filed for bankruptcy early last year. The company has between $15 million and $20 million of undisputed debt, though a disputed $100 million claim also exists in connection with the company’s owner, Du Sha. The only asset owned by Pacific Links is the Makaha property.

Proceeds from the bankruptcy court auction will be used to pay Pacific Links creditors.

If the bid from KH Gangwon succeeds, the company expects a purchase to close by Aug. 2. A final sale agreement with the company or a competing bidder is subject to confirmation by a U.S. bankruptcy judge.