by Sallie Brady | Published July 2008 | Condé Nast The corral at Molokai Ranch
The island's best-known property closes its doors after locals say no to major development
In March, Molokai Properties Ltd., the owner of the island's two largest and most popular hotels, shuttered them following fierce local opposition to a real estate development that the company wanted to build along the southwestern coast.
The closure of the 65,000-acre Molokai Ranch, including the 22-room Molokai Lodge and the 40 furnished seaside tents at the Beach Village at Molokai Ranch, is the latest in a series of starts and stops for Molokai tourism, which began in 1977 with the opening of the 198-room Kaluakoi Resort and condo complex on the West End. Virtually abandoned since the early 1980s, the resort was purchased by Molokai Properties, a subsidiary of Hong Kong–based Guoco Group Ltd., in 2001. At the time, local officials and many residents hoped that the company, which had opened the Beach Village in 1996 and the Lodge in 1999, would resuscitate Kaluakoi, attracting tourists and adding jobs. But apart from a $500,000 golf course renovation, Molokai Properties left the resort an untouched eyesore. In 2006, the company announced that it would renovate the hotel as part of a master development plan that included the sale of 200 homesites (at $600,000 each) along La'au Point—the picturesque southwestern tip, accessible only by boat or a strenuous hike. Local reaction was negative, forceful, and immediate. The most visible display of residents' opposition to the plan was the hand-painted signs reading SAVE LA'AU that were tacked to trees and lanais all along the hilly ribbon of road that traverses the 38-mile-long island.
Locals say...
Read More...
