A&B plans to spend
up to $75M on resort

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LIHUE >> Alexander & Baldwin Inc. announced yesterday it plans to invest between $50 million and $75 million in the Kukuiula resort community to be built near Poipu.

A&B already is a partner in the project with Arizona-based DMB Associates. A&B did not disclose its share of the 1,500-unit development.

Stanley Kuriyama, chief executive of A&B Properties Inc., said only that with the investment of capital, "We generally expect that A&B's share of the distribution will be 50 percent or more of the total distributions made by the venture."

Kukuiula is the largest planned community to be built on Kauai by a single developer. (Princeville, which is much larger, was built by numerous developers.)

Kukuiula it has been controversial since it was first conceived by A&B in 1968.

The project was approved by the Kauai County Council in 1989, but vetoed by then-Mayor JoAnn Yukimura. The Council overrode her veto.

Hurricane Iniki in 1992 and the economic slump that followed halted work on the project. In 1999, A&B received permits for a new concept with a heavier emphasis on resort development.

A&B partnered with DMB, redesigned the project to be limited to 1,500 high-end homes -- lot prices are expected to begin at $1 million -- and after two years won approval from the County Council in July.

The first homes are expected to go on the market in 2007.

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