Maui Land's Cole buys Kula estate, may raise goats
As if running a publicly held agriculture and real estate company were not enough, David Cole, chairman, president and chief executive of Maui Land & Pineapple Co. Inc., plans to start his own project on the side: raising organic livestock on a 190-acre farm in Kula.
According to documents filed with securities regulators, Maui Land & Pineapple has agreed to sell Cole the 190-acre parcel for $4.9 million. Included in the sale is a 3,500-square-foot, 1940s-era house that Cole said he plans to renovate and live in.
The land accompanying the house isn't suitable for growing pineapple, Cole said. But it could be good for raising goats, which could help fill what Cole says is a "robust market for cheese."
The upcountry land could be right for growing crops besides pineapple. The property has a couple of lychee trees on it, Cole said, so that could be an option. But nothing is definite.
"We really want to figure out what the land wants to grow," Cole said.
The property was among lands identified by management as "noncore property," which the company has been selling off, Cole said. According to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the deal with Cole was structured according to the company's policies for related-party real estate sales. The process includes obtaining two independent appraisals of the property.
Pending the sale, the company is leasing the house to Cole for $1,500 per month, which the company said was fair market value based on the estimate of a third-party real estate agent. Cole said the house was "not habitable" and that he was leasing it so he could fix it up.
The land is not part of Cole's compensation package, which in 2005 included a $450,000 base salary, $14,000 car allowance and $391,000 in stock. The sale is contingent on the land being subdivided to separate the property from the rest of the company's holdings.
Cole isn't the only Maui Land & Pineapple insider to whom the company is considering selling land in upcountry Maui. Honolulu real estate consultant Duncan MacNaughton, who is a director of Maui Land & Pineapple, also is in talks with the company about buying 64 acres in Kula for approximately $1.6 million. That deal is being reviewed according to the same policy on related-party real estate sales that governed the deal with Cole, the company said.
MacNaughton said he has long entertained the prospect of owning property in Kula, where MacNaughton said his uncle had a place when MacNaughton was a child. Although MacNaughton said he would like to "recreate what I had as a child," he also stressed he does not yet have a formal agreement with Maui Land & Pineapple.
"I've only had discussions, no commitments," MacNaughton said.