A&B cites demand
for Maui business acreageThe firm says more space for
light industry makes economic sense
KAHULUI, Maui >> Alexander & Baldwin Inc. says a proposed expansion of its light industrial area would eventually pump $3.8 million annually into county coffers and $51.6 million into the state treasury.
A&B says the 179-acre expansion would generate $1.57 billion in wages during its construction and $202 million in wages annually thereafter.
A&B hopes to sell the individual lots at "Maui Business Park -- Phase II" and begin construction of buildings by 2008.
The company said it expects the size of the lots will range from 0.3 acres to 12 acres and that based on 2002 dollars, the price of a 20,000- to 40,000-square-foot lot would range from $460,000 to $1.28 million.
The land, on two separate parcels south of Dairy Road, includes a 140.8-acre area next to firm's first phase of Maui Business Park, now occupied by a number of businesses, including Home Depot, the Maui Marketplace and Wal-Mart.
The firm anticipates using the 140.8 acres for a number of light industrial uses, including industrial supply companies, ministorage businesses, warehouses, contractors, clinics and restaurants.
A smaller parcel, 38.1 acres on the east side of Hana Highway near Kmart and Costco, may be used for airport-related businesses, such as freight forwarders, car rental companies and caterers, the firm said.
Project manager Richard B. Stack Jr. said although the corporation has not started marketing the second phase or received firm offers from potential anchor tenants, it has had inquiries from Kahului businesses looking for space.
"There's been a number of tenants who have called us, looking for space we didn't have," he said.
A market study done for the firm said there will be a demand for 290 acres of light industrial land in Central Maui in the next two decades.
The firm said 91 percent of its first phase had been sold as of May.
Another builder, Maui Lani Development, is considering the construction of a 57-acre light industrial project in Wailuku at Waiale Road and Kuikahi Drive.
Alexander & Baldwin filed a request with the state Land Use Commission on May 30 to reclassify 138 acres of the 179-acre parcel to urban from agricultural. The commission has already given or conditionally approved the urban use of the remaining 41 acres.
No date has been set yet for the commission's public hearing on the second phase.
The state Historic Preservation Division has sent a preliminary letter, indicating there is a great likelihood there are no significant archaeological resources on the land, since most of it has been used for sugar cane.
Alexander & Baldwin said although most of the 179 acres are on sugar cane land, it does not anticipate any impact from the project on sugar production at the 37,000 acres of land used by its Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. on Maui.
To lessen the traffic problems associated with the development, the firm has proposed extending Hookele Street, the rear access road to Home Depot and Wal-Mart. Hookele would be extended from Wal-Mart to Hana Highway.
