Schuler buys land to build Kapolei homes

The D.R. Horton division buys 1,600 acres and plans up to 15,000 homes for the area

The Schuler Division of D.R. Horton Inc. has bought former sugar cane land from Campbell Estate for a Kapolei development that will double the company's Hawaii housing inventory.

Schuler, which has developed about 8,000 homes in Hawaii since 1987, bought a 1,600-acre parcel for about $71 million in March from the estate, said Mike Jones, president of the Schuler Division.

Some 10,000 to 15,000 homes are planned for Schuler's Hoopili project, which will cater to first-home, second-home and move-up buyers, Jones said.

The parcel, near St. Francis Medical Center-West and Ewa Villages off Farrington Highway, was planned for up to 16,300 units by the city, said Theresia McMurdo, a spokeswoman for Campbell Estate.

Schuler, which still has to obtain an environmental impact statement as well as city and state approval for the project, has been meeting with West Oahu residents to finalize development plans.

Maeda Timson, chairwoman of the Makakilo Kapolei Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board and a member of Schuler's community focus group, said that she will support the project as long as the infrastructure is in place to accommodate increased traffic and demand for schools.

"The good thing about Schuler is that they don't have any blueprints. They are coming to the community to find out what we want first," Timson said.

Jones said that completion of the project, which is still at least four years from groundbreaking, could take 20 to 30 years.

"Ideally we would deliver about 500 to 600 homes a year," he said. It's likely Schuler will seek a development partner for a retail component of the project as well as portions of its residential plan, he said.