Lawsuit filed over $130M Wailea luxury home project

Groups allege environment, cultural sites, water will be negatively impacted

A little over a month after the Maui Planning Commission approved a key environmental report for a $130 million, 57-unit luxury condo project proposed for Wailea, three community groups have filed a lawsuit to invalidate the decision. 

Under applicant and development manager Ledcor, the Wailea Resort SF-S Residential Project is planning 57 single-family residential units on roughly 23 acres adjacent to Kilohana Park and Wailea Kialoa resort community. Units are expected to sell for about $3.6 million each, mostly to part-time residents.

Ho'oponopono O Makena, Maui Tomorrow Foundation and Sierra Club Maui Group on June 21 filed a lawsuit in 2nd Circuit Court against Maui Planning Commission, County of Maui and Wailea Resort SF-S Partners LP, alleging that the project's final environmental assessment was insufficiently prepared and that the commission "improperly accepted" it.

They are arguing that Native Hawaiian cultural and historical sites, along with water resources, will be negatively impacted despite the commission's finding of no significant impact.

"We need to treat the area as a traditional cultural property and require an independent cultural review of the proposed site and surrounding areas, along with the impacts that the project would have on our waters and fishing grounds," Carol Lee Kamekona of Ho'oponopono O Makena, a nonprofit that works to preserve and protect cultural and historic sites in Makena, said in a news release on Monday. 

"Many cultural and historical sites, although not listed on any archaeological reports, cannot be 'replaced' by a 'cultural garden' at the project entrance, as proposed in the (final environmental assessment)," added Kamekona, who is recognized by the Maui-Lanai Islands Burial Council as a cultural descendant of the area. "We need to do better for our aina and our lahui."

Kekoa Keiley, an attorney whose Honolulu-based firm Chun Kerr LLP represents Wailea Resort SF-S Partners LP on this matter, said the partners affirm the commission's decision.

"Wailea Resort SF-S Partners agrees with the Maui Planning Commission's determination and issuance of a Finding of No Significant Impact for the project and is confident that the court will uphold the Commission's decision," Keiley wrote in an email on Monday. 

County spokesman Brian Perry on Monday said the county has no comment on the pending litigation. 

Despite lengthy community testimony calling for a more in-depth environmental study on April 27, the Maui Planning Commission on May 11 voted 5-2 to accept Wailea Resort SF-S Residential Project's final environmental assessment and issue a finding of no significant impact. 

David Goode, development manager for Wailea SF-S Partners LP and member of the Ledcor applicant team, said May 11 that about 50 cultural individuals or groups were asked to provide feedback on various approval and entitlement stages since 2019.

"Not all that were asked were able to participate for various reasons, however, many did participate and the door is open to those that wish to share their mana'o," he said.

Goode added that at least eight individuals are participating in ongoing cultural consultations, many of whom are "well-known cultural practitioners with genealogical and generational ties to the area."

Project documents indicate that 51 units, or 90 percent, are expected to house part-time residents, while the other six units, or 10 percent, are expected to be for full-time residents.

A typical floor plan shows that condos would range from 2,600 to 3,300 square feet with additional space for a pool, garage and covered lanai.

With its headquarters in Vancouver, Ledcor Group has development rights on 135 acres of South Maui land from A&B Properties, "representing the vast majority of the remaining residential land in Wailea," according to its website.

A&B leases some land to Ledcor and in 2019 sold the company 42 acres of land and land improvements, residential workforce housing credits and associated developer rights in Wailea for $23.6 million.

Ledcor is using the land to develop the Wailea Hills Collection, a "collection of luxury resort residential developments" around the Wailea Blue Course, makai of Piilani Highway.

La'i Loa, a project with 75 units in 15 buildings on 13 acres, was introduced as the first home opportunity within the collection during its presale in spring of 2020. La'i Loa's $1.5 million to more than $3 million condos and penthouses are already sold out, and construction completion is slated for 2023, according to real estate websites. 

La'i Loa is adjacent to Ledcor's new 289-unit luxury community planned for Wailea called the Wailea Resort SF-7A/MF-12/MF-13 Residential Project.

The $315 million project is proposing 51 zero lot line homes, 92 town home/duplex homes and 146 multifamily units -- of which an estimated 23 will be vacation rentals -- on 46.2 acres of land, according to project plans.

Units are expected to sell for an average of $1.75 million and bring in about 545 residents -- 90 percent part time and 10 percent full time.

"It's their strategy to split it all up," Albert Perez, executive director of Maui Tomorrow Foundation, said on Monday. "Individually they're contending that these projects have limited impacts. We don't agree with that. Cumulatively they're supposed to assess them all together and they're trying to avoid that by separating them and putting them under different LLCs and different ownership entities."

"If we don't beat it back right now there's not going to be a middle class to fight back anymore," he added.

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