Besides the alleged defects in the legal language of the sales documents, customers at Honua Kai Resort & Spa have alleged a wide range of omissions of pertinent information or of physical features that didn't appear when the project was built out. Among them:
* That, initially, the sales documents did not inform buyers that a sewage treatment plant is across the highway from the resort, or of nearby rock-crushing operations.
Would-be buyer Frank Iachelli was shocked to learn about the wastewater plant, because the unit he was buying is on the back, closest to the county plant, "right on the corner."
* That the original offering promised a 9,000-square-foot Duke's restaurant, even though the Maui Planning Commission's special management area approval allowed one only half as big. Attorney Richard Rost says the developer never even applied for the big restaurant, although its distributed press releases announced it.
Iachelli says it might seem like "a minor thing," but the Duke's restaurant "was huge for us." He and his wife have been coming to Hawaii for more than 10 years, and "Duke's (in Waikiki) is one of our favorite places. We like to have brunch there. We knew it would be a good draw for renting out" their unit on Maui.
* That it was not disclosed that owners renting out their units, but not using the developer's rental management service, would have their customers excluded from common areas.
* That units were not built as described. According to Iachelli, when the first phase, Hokulani, was opened "the reviews were horrible," and there were complaints about the quality and finish of the construction.
