Church adds to
Laie land holdingsA housing development is among
the plans for 663 acres
bought from Campbell Estate
Hawaii Reserves Inc., the land management company for the Mormon church in Hawaii, has purchased more than 600 acres of land in Laie, mauka of Malaekahana State Park.
The land was bought, for an undisclosed amount, from The Estate of James Campbell. It is adjacent to more than 6,000 acres already owned by the church.
The estate sold the land because the opportunity presented itself, according to spokeswoman Theresia McMurdo. It plans to use the revenue from the sale to purchase income-producing real estate, but has not settled on a replacement property.
The 663 acres extends from Laie to Malaekahana bridge on the mauka side of Kamehameha Highway and back toward a point in the Koolau mountains.
HRI had been negotiating with the estate since 2001, said Eric Deaver, president and chief executive officer of HRI.
Plans for the parcel include a housing development, he said.
"We think a little bit of growth -- moderate and appropriate -- has been needed for a long time," he said.
The company hopes to transfer land use designations already in place on its 6,000-acre parcel.
Plans for that property, which included housing and a tech park, were approved by the Honolulu City Council in 1999 as part of the Koolau Loa Sustainable Communities Plan. But after making topographic studies of the land, Deaver said HRI concluded extensive engineering and site work would be required to develop needed infrastructure. The new site is more conducive to the plan, he said. However, before any development can take place, the community plan would have to be amended and existing land use designations would have to be transferred, Deaver said.
The city must approve any changes to the plan, plus land use designations and zoning entitlements. That could take three to five years, Deaver said.
The land has several tenants, including Matsuda Farms, Gunstock Ranch and an Episcopalian church. Deaver said existing leases will be honored, but one tenant, Gunstock Ranch, eventually will have to relocate. It occupies the largest amount of land and is closest to Laie, according to Deaver.
A representative of Gunstock Ranch declined to comment on the purchase.
If the approval transfers go through, Deaver said he envisions various sizes of homes that would come on line in phases of 50 to 75 at a time. The existing parcel was approved for 550 homes.
"Right now we don't have any plans for a shopping center although we think a business park-type designation to go along with the tech park already designated would be good because you have to have some jobs to support the housing," he said.
The initial development would likely take place closest to Laie, but HRI has not begun looking for a developer, nor has it settled on a design.
The first step will be to get together with citizens groups to talk about relocation and reconfiguration of the existing land use designations on the new property, Deaver said. "For us the most important thing is to keep the country ambiance and the character out here. So whatever we end up doing, we want to make sure its conducive to preserving that," he said.