INSIDE HAWAII INC.
COURTESY CASTLE & COOKE RESORTS
Castle & Cooke is offering this two-story, 3,866-square-foot home on Palawai Ridge overlooking Manele Bay on Lanai for $4.3 million.
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At your service
Mike Schochet oversees relations with Lanai’s luxury homeowners as well as commercial leasing
Question: What's the status of development on Lanai?
Answer: The company has an active development program and it attempts to develop a variety of real estate products -- and this would be in the residential and commercial sector. In the commercial sector, this would be the component of small businesses that operate in the Dole Square. There is going to be a commercial development plan put together to maintain the charm of that and expand the commercial investment and opportunities.
Michael D. Schochet
New job: Castle & Cooke Resorts LLC, developer of luxury homes on the private island Lanai, has hired Schochet as vice president and owners representative. He started Dec. 1, and oversees commercial leases in the Dole Square, relations with Lanai luxury homeowners and the company's residential services, such as pick-ups from the Lanai airport and grocery shopping.
Old jobs: Schochet worked for Hawaii's Magoon Estate from 1988 to the beginning of 2005. He served as Magoon's COO and president of its subsidiary Guenoc Winery. Before that, he worked for 20 years for Bank of Hawaii, rising to regional vice president of the Pacific Islands Division.
Age: 60
Born and raised: Born in Santa Monica, Calif. Schochet said he fell in love with Hawaii in the 1960s.
Background: Los Angeles billionaire David Murdock, through ownership of Castle & Cooke, owns most of Lanai and has been transforming the island from pineapple fields to a luxury playground with two Four Seasons hotels and high-end homes.
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Q: Generally, who is the typical luxury homeowner on Lanai?
A: Someone who has literally fallen in love with the island of Lanai and the special magic that exists here. It's a small environment. Lanai is what really many people believe the old Hawaii feels like. People are extremely friendly here. It is safe. It is laid back, friendly. And there are many waves on the road ways.
Q: Do you live there full time?
A: Yes, actually my wife and I fall into that category of falling love with Lanai and we became homeowners here about a year and a half ago.
Q: Who are some notable luxury home owners?
A: Yes there are some notable persons, however they guard their privacy, so I would not be able to disclose any names.
Q: Do the company's residential services come with the homes on Lanai?
A: It comes under the Island Club program, an amenity that involves use of resort facilities and the golf courses and residential services.
Q: What does homeowner relations involve?
That's to serve as the company's representative with homeowners who have purchased the luxury-home product, to be responsive to their needs, questions, concerns and so forth.
Perhaps a homeowner has a question about some facet about the homeowners association, perhaps what plans the company might have in the future for specific development.
Q: Last word?
A: I think that perhaps one of the important things is to understand that Castle & Cooke's mission ... is to create a resort community which is sustainable by developing a variety of real estate products, expanding the cultural, educational and well-being of the facilities here, operating through management with Four Seasons the resort hotels and providing the supporting infrastructure and keeping Lanai the special place that it is.
I am one person in a team of professional managers working together as a team to focus on the company and the vision of Mr. Murdock.
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