KIHEI » Maui Lu, a former center of resort activity, in south Maui is closing on Nov. 10, laying off 41 employees.

“;It's sad,”; said Jackie Tavares, a reservations clerk. “;What's nice about here is we know everybody. We're like a family.”;

The California-based company, 575 South Kihei Road LLC, plans to demolish existing buildings at the Maui Lu and develop a 388-unit timeshare operation.

A public hearing is scheduled Nov. 10 before the Maui Planning Commission to discuss its plan to transfer its ownership to Marriott Ownership Resorts Inc.

The meeting starts at 8:30 a.m. at the planning conference room in Wailuku.

The hotel, which once had more than 270 units in operation, now manages about 120 units. Its former Long House restaurant has been used as a chapel for several years.

Employees were working yesterday to notify guests about the closure and rescheduling stays.

The Maui Lu land was bought by Canadian lumber businessman Gordon Gibson in 1956 as a winter retreat and later turned into a hotel.

Other owners added more units and a Long House dining room that once was the center of entertainment in south Maui, before the development of the Wailea resort.

Gibson erected two totem poles beachside of the Maui Lu overlooking Maalaea Bay in the 1960s to commemorate where Captain George Vancouver moored when he visited Maui in the early 1790s.

The development plan includes transferring the totem poles to a different site, removing a rock revetment on the north side of the shoreline property and instituting a beach restoration project.

The plan would demolish the hotel buildings along the shoreline and construct a one-story beach club.

The company discussed plans for the timeshare conversion in 2002, but its development was challenged by the timeshare Maui Beach Vacation Club.

The 575 South Kihei Road LLC received its special management area permit in March.

William Kennison, Maui division director for the ILWU, said initially, his union thought the 32 members working at the Maui Lu would be employed during the conversion.

Kennison said he understands the owner plans to now shut down the operation during construction that might take three years.

“;Some of the people have been working there for 30 years,”; Kennison said.