3.2 acres of mill land given to Hawaii County
HILO » Big Island land company Continental Pacific LLC has donated 3.2 acres of oceanfront property north of Hilo formerly occupied by the Hakalau Sugar Mill to Hawaii County, the county announced yesterday.
"Continental Pacific is making the donation in appreciation for the support and good will it has received from the people of the island in its various projects on the island over the past few years," real estate broker Hank Correa said.
Correa, who works with the company, said the donation was not part of any requirement for the company to receive any county permit. The mill site will be a "long-term recreational asset," a county statement said.
"In the years since the closure of the mill around 1973, the beach area has become popular with surfers, fishermen and beachgoers," the county statement said.
Fifteen miles north of Hilo, the site overlooking Hakalau Bay is one of the few places on the coast of rocky cliffs where swimmers and surfers can get to the ocean.
Continental Pacific has been active on the Big Island since the 1990s, Correa said. It has taken tens of thousands of acres of former cane land and subdivided it into agricultural parcels ranging in size from about 20 acres to several hundred acres each. It has also created permanent shoreline access routes, he said.
The county called donation of the mill site and the provision of shoreline access "a very beautiful arrangement" to assure access to traditional use areas.
Continental Pacific is headed by Jere Henderson and J. Barron Strother, both of Alabama.