143 to lose jobs
as Makaha Resort
gets sold again
The third time doesn't appear to have been the charm for The Makaha Resort Golf Club in Waianae.
After a turbulent ownership history, the property is slated to change hands again for the fourth time.
Wisconsin-based Towne Development of Hawaii Inc. filed notice with the State Department of Labor and Industrial Relations of its intent to sell the property and terminate all 143 employees on Jan. 22 when the property closes.
The company is not at liberty to identify the buyer, but the new owner will likely rehire most employees affected by the transaction, said Chris Lau, president of Towne Development.
Built in the 1960s and renovated in 2001, the ocean-front resort includes a championship golf course, pro shop, swimming pool, meeting rooms, banquet facilities, restaurant and lounge with entertainment.
The Makaha property was originally developed by Honolulu financier Chinn Ho, who opened the golf club and hotel in 1969.
In the ensuing decade, Ho made several agreements to sell it but the would-be buyers failed to complete the deals.
ANA Hotels Inc., a subsidiary of All Nippon Airways Inc., bought the hotel and the 18-hole, par-72 golf course in 1979 for $9.5 million.
ANA was never able to make a success of the hotel. The company tried running it itself, brought in Sheraton Hotels in 1982 to manage it, later dropped Sheraton and went back to self-management. ANA finally gave up and closed the hotel in 1995.
The golf course remained open, later developing an area that had been used as hotel banquet facilities into a club house and restaurant.
Real-estate development firm Towne Realty Inc. bought the property in 2000, and 64 employees were laid off at the time of that transaction.
Earlier this year, the Star-Bulletin reported that Ko Olina Co., moving ahead with $1 billion of development on its West Oahu resort, had agreed to buy the Makaha property, intending to use it as a recreation facility for those visiting and living at Ko Olina.
That deal was subject to due diligence and eventually fell through, however.
Towne Realty is more than 50 years old and has residential, commercial and industrial real estate developments in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, Texas and Wisconsin.
Towne's Hawaii operations started in the 1970s with contracts for federal government work in the islands, such as improving military housing.
The company went on to develop a number of significant residential projects in the private sector including condominium and single-family projects on Oahu and luxury apartments at Waikoloa on the Big Island.
