The minority owner of the Hotel Hana-Maui & Honua Spa has sold its stake in the four-diamond luxury resort in the isolated town on Maui.

Terms of the Jan. 6 transaction weren't disclosed.

San Francisco-based Passport Resorts LLC, which also managed the property, was one of the investors in Ohana Hotel Co. LLC, the entity that purchased the resort in 2001 from Meridian Financial Resources.

The majority group of California investors in Ohana Hotel bought out the interests of Passport Resorts - both its management role and ownership - in a mutually-agreed upon transaction, according to Peter Heinemann, one of the managing owners of Passport Resorts.

Arden Grove Hospitality LLC, incorporated in 2008, was named the new management company. It doesn't have an ownership stake in the prized resort that has been Hana's major employer and economic engine for decades.

“;As much as we love doing business in Hana and in the Hawaiian islands, we have many other projects in California,”; Heinemann said. “;One of the other investors had a relationship with Arden Grove so it just made sense to bring them in and it made sense for us, given our other California projects, to exit.”;

The resort's 70 beachfront acres and historic 70-room hotel, which opened in 1946, was put on the market in August 2007 for between $60 million and $70 million, but was pulled off last summer following the national credit crunch and global downturn.

“;It's been in limbo for the last year and half or so at least,”; said Danny Mynar, the hotel's assistant general manager.

Like other Maui hotels, the resort has seen occupancy decrease by between 25 percent and 30 percent from the previous year, he said.

The resort has about 260 employees and occupancy has hovered around 50 percent, according to Heinemann.

Passport Resorts began managing the resort in 2001, overseeing significant renovations to restore the venerable property.

The hotel reopened the following year and won more than 22 industry awards, most recently being named by Travel + Leisure among the “;World's Best Hotels 2008.”; It also was ranked by the 2008 Conde Nast Traveler Readers' Choice poll among the Top 25 Hawaii Resorts.