H2R LLC, whose principals are Steve Goodfellow, Rod Olson and Everett Dowling, purchased the 27.8 acres from Hawaii Development LLC on Oct. 1 for about $20 million. Ryan Churchill, president of Pacific Rim Land Inc., which is managing the project, released information for the first time to the public during a Makena Homeowners Association meeting of about 10 people Thursday night at Keawalai Church in Makena.

Bounded by Makena Alanui Road, Makena-Keoneoio Road (Old Makena Road) and the future club, the project has county water secured and will take one to two years to get through the permitting process, which requires an environmental assessment, special management area use permit and typical grading and construction plan approvals from the county, Churchill said. Construction would then take 12 to 15 months. Individual lot owners would build over a 20-year time frame.

He said the project would include off-site infrastructure improvements to county roads, along with moving the Maluaka Beach Park parking lot slightly south and possibly adding more stalls. It would also have on-site work to ready the 53 single-family lots of about a half acre each for sale as “resort product, second-home type product.”

“Our goal is to work out a deal with Discovery to have our owners be able to use their facilities,” Churchill said of the future Makena Golf & Beach Club.

Multilevel residences along Makena Alanui Road are a beehive of construction activity Thursday. The project is one of several in the Makena area, which is drawing multiple developers who are aiming to create private luxury communities. -- The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

“We just purchased this in October,” he added. “We wanted to bring it forward and let you know what we’re planning.”

Separately, ATC Makena Holdings and Discovery Land Co. are developing a planned community that includes two major projects nearby: the $240 million Makena Golf & Beach Club with 50 private residences on 24 acres; and a $354.5 million, 134-unit mixed use project on 47 acres.

The private, beachfront community of high-end condos and club will occupy the site of the former 310-room Makena Beach & Golf Resort and its predecessor, Maui Prince Hotel, whose buildings were leveled last year.

Makena Golf & Beach Club has drawn concern from some area residents due to its size and scope.

“They built the Matterhorn to give all these homes (a view),” Makena resident Linda Stiles said at Thursday’s meeting, adding that developers initially said the project would be more discreet. “It’s just ‘boom’ — everything is built on the Matterhorn that is the old hotel, the mountain they made. It just feels like you’ve been fooled.”

Kaimi Judd, vice president of Makena Golf & Beach Club, said via email to the association that grading and infrastructure of the former hotel site is planned to continue through summer and fall with vertical construction to follow.

Also, the first of eight beach cottages are in the process of being turned over to homeowners, and all eight are planned to be finished this summer, Judd said. Two multifamily buildings near Makena Alanui are progressing and are planned to be complete late this year or early next year.

Kahu Kealahou Alika, the pastor of Keawalai Church where the meeting was held, said development in the area may cause an already disconnected community to further lose its sense of togetherness.

“If they are all going to be part-time residents, we’re creating communities where people don’t get connected,” Alika said Thursday. “If that starts, what is Makena going to be? Even now, the people who live here, I don’t think there’s a strong community here. The church is still here. Other people have moved in, and now they say others are coming. There’s nothing that seems to draw some kind of cohesion, except that it’s a real estate investment. I guess my concern is that (Makena is) not just real estate.”

* Kehaulani Cerizo can be reached at kcerizo@mauinews.com.