Maui Lu Resort comes down | News, Sports, Jobs
The Maui Lu Resort is being torn down to make way for a 388-unit, time-share development on 28 acres in north Kihei.
If all goes as scheduled, the $300 million Hilton Grand Vacations Timeshare Resort will open its first of three phases in 2017, said Will Beaton, president of Capbridge Pacific, which announced in October that it had purchased the beachfront property.
The redevelopment will be a “very positive change” for north Kihei, Beaton said. “The old Maui Lu, as great as it was, has been sitting there, kind of rotting away for a long time.”
After demolition is completed, site work on the project should begin at the end of this year or in early January, he said.
The resort is being designed to meet Hilton Grand Vacations standards, he said, and it will be a “family-oriented, Hawaiian resort” with double-pitched roofs.
The 12 buildings will vary in height from one to four stories, with the tallest buildings situated on the mauka side of the property, he said. Units will have one to three bedrooms. No retail stores are planned, but the resort will have a pool, a fitness center and kids and teen centers.
The developers will make improvements to South Kihei Road and Kaonoulu Street, with work including sidewalks, curbs, gutters and underground utilities.
Canadians Louise and Gordon Gibson bought the Kihei property near Kalepolepo Beach Park for $34,000 in 1956. The first guest units were built in 1960.
The property had been known for its bungalows, pitch-and-putt golf course and the 22,000-square-foot Longhouse social hall, which was a venue for residents’ wedding receptions, company parties and other events.
By 1977, when the Gibsons sold the Maui Lu to a group of Canadian investors, the resort had 150 units. There would be as many as 218 units on the property through the years, according to state documents. The Maui Lu has changed ownership hands many times over the years.
The new resort is Capbridge Pacific’s first venture in Hawaii and Hilton Grand Vacation’s first property on Maui. Hilton will manage time-share sales and hotel operations.
Beaton said he has lived in Hawaii for 35 years and has been a developer for 25 years. He led the development of the Wailea Beach Villas, beginning in 2001.
* Brian Perry can be reached at bperry@mauinews.com.
Today's breaking news and more in your inbox
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7rq3UoqWer6NjsLC5jqecsKtfobykrctmpZ6vo2R%2FcX2UaGdrZ52Wwqp5y65kq52jpL%2B1ecKopJ6rXZm8uLqO