Riley Smith, President and Chief Operating Officer of Lanihau Properties has announced plans to begin site work on property above Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway north of Kailua-Kona, near Honokohau.
Lanihau Properties used to own Lanihau Center (where the Post Office, Sack and Save, and Long’s are located) but no longer does. They do own properties around Kailua Village, including where Burger King is, plus Seaside Hotel, the parking lot at King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel, West Hawaii Today, the former Chevrolet dealers–those properties.
The partnership owns hundreds of acres mauka of Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway, bordered by the Kaloko Light Industrial Area on the north and by the Tesoro station at the south. The property extends mauka in the ahupua’a of Honokohau, up to Palani Road. They’ve sold some of their property to Hualalai Academy. They still have 9300 acres in an active cow/calf operation.
But regarding their property just mauka of Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway, Smith says the company plans to start site work and grading on just over 15 acres near where Hawaii Pre-Cast, Jas. Glover, and West Hawaii Concrete are located just south of Costco.
Smith says the sitework is to prepare the land for use as a future light industrial area. He anticipates the kinds of businesses that might be there in the future could include businesses similar to those now in the Kaloko Light Industrial Area. He expects the sitework will include excavating as deep as 80 feet to create level building pads to accommodate large, light industrial uses. Regarding potential archaeological finds or burials: the EIS involved using archaeologists and the Hawaii Island Burial Council to find and determine proper and appropriate handling of any such sites. They also work with Cultural Monitor/Consultant Isaac Harp, whose ancestors lived in the area, to address any inadvertent finds.
Work should start in December, 2011, pending final county and state approvals, and take three to four years. Once the land is graded, it is ready for developers who may wish to come in and build as appropriate for “light industrial” zoning.
Questions? Contact Riley Smith at 808-936-7129 or via email, rsmith@lanihau.net
Hear Riley Smith talk about the Greenwell family, and go into detail about the plans.
Riley Smith Interview
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