Kukui'ula Creating Luxury Residential, Recreational Community Near 19th Century Sugar Plantation Town and Overlooking Kaua'i's South Shore

Business Wire, Oct 1, 2007

$85 Million of Landscaped Gardens, Floral Sanctuaries, 10,000 Native Trees to Include Rare Hawaiian Species From Congressionally Chartered National Tropical Botanical Garden

Rural Heritage to Be Largely Preserved on 1,000 Plus Acres; Homes Will Be Built on Kaua'i's Sunny Hillsides

24 of First 35 Large Ocean View Custom Lots Sold Before Kukui'ula Was Officially Unveiled; Another 66 Sites, Including Some With Spacious Hawaiian Plantation Style Cottages, Currently Available

KOLOA, Hawai'i -- Construction has begun on Kukui'ula, a luxury residential and recreational community with extensive tropical gardens and floral sanctuaries near the 19th century sugar plantation town of Koloa and overlooking Kaua'i's sunny south shore and Po'ipu's beaches.

Kukui'ula is being built as a new breed of luxury community for "down-to-earth, friendly folks and families who want small town values and a simpler, healthier life," says president Richard Holtzman.

In keeping with the rural heritage of the Koloa-Po'ipu area, Kukui'ula completed re-entitlement of 1,010 acres, reducing the maximum number of allowed home sites from the 3,400 originally considered to 1,500 sites that will feature Hawaiian plantation-style homes.

When completed, it will have a spacious garden spa and health and wellness center, an 18-hole Tom Weiskopf-designed golf course, the Kukui'ula Club and clubhouse restaurant and creative studios for learning and self-expression. A five-star class boutique hotel will have 21 luxury villas and up to 10 plantation cottages in an intimate setting.

The community also has access to an adjacent 20-acre upcountry lake. A working agricultural farm and orchid hothouse, extensive walking paths and trails and several large community parks are being planned. The nearby Kukui'ula Village, a gathering place for all Kaua'i residents, is also intended to have fine and casual dining, cafes, boutique shops, galleries and a gourmet grocery.

Described as "Kaua'i's Living Garden," with its cool mountain hillsides and sloping fields of blossoming flowers and native plants and trees, Kukui'ula will have 21st century conveniences to support a simple and gracious lifestyle for people and families who want recreation and relaxation, adventure and discovery, wellness and lifelong learning at their own pace.

Instead of a traditional resort or an exclusive private enclave, Kukui'ula has been designed as a new vision of rural turn-of-the-century Hawai'i with every modern comfort, inviting residential neighborhoods and places to meet and play.

Old Koloa Town, a former sugar plantation town and the area's first shopping and social center over 100 years ago, is just a few minutes away. The Hawaiian Islands' first commercially successful sugar company began operations in 1835 in Koloa.

"We're committed to creating a very special life-enhancing residential community," says Holtzman, president of Kukui'ula Development Company (Hawaii) LLC, an affiliate of DMB Associates, Inc., a Scottsdale, Arizona developer of luxury residential and recreational communities in the western U.S., and A&B Properties, Inc., the property subsidiary of 137-year-old, Honolulu-based Alexander & Baldwin, Inc.

Initial Sales Generated by Word of Mouth

Kukui'ula is a community of four distinctive residential, recreational and open areas -- Mauka, Makai, Rural and Coastal -- that mirror the natural terrain. The "Mauka Collection" currently includes 35 hillside custom ocean view lots ranging from one-half acre to a full acre. About a third of the lots in this initial offering border the fifth and sixth holes of the planned golf course. Quietly offered starting last year, 24 lots have been sold, mainly by word of mouth, says Hannah Sirois, vice president of sales and marketing.

"The Mauka Collection is our higher-elevation upcountry neighborhood where many of the custom-built homes will have uninterrupted panoramic views of the Pacific and of Mount Ha'upu," she explains. "These prime larger lots sold faster than we expected in today's market for resort property in Hawai'i." The remaining Mauka lots currently start at approximately $1.46 million.

Kukui'ula also recently released the first phase of its "Makai Collection," a mix of quarter-acre to one-third-acre custom lots, some of which include one- and two-story Hawaiian plantation style 'cottages' ranging in size from approximately 1,500 to 4,600 square feet. These newly-released custom lots will border the fairways and greens on the first four holes of the golf course.

Remaining Makai custom lots currently start at approximately $1 million with the plantation-style cottages in the Makai Collection beginning at approximately $2.1 million. Before Kukui'ula's official opening today, a total of 33 Makai custom and cottage lots were sold. To date, over $82 million in properties have been sold.

Inspired by Kaua'i's Multi-Cultural Plantation Era

Holtzman describes the concept of Kukui'ula as "drawing its inspiration from Kaua'i's multi-cultural plantation era where everyone lived and worked within the Koloa community, respected the land and sea for their sustenance and handed down family stories through generations." He says visitors will find the renderings and floor plans of the six different Makai Collection plantation-style cottages "architecturally authentic in detail and design."