The year 2000, whether you regard it as the first year of the new millennium or the last year of the old millennium, will on Kaua’i be forever known as the year of the deal, and the year Amfac Sugar
The year 2000, whether you regard it as the first year of the new millennium or the last year of the old millennium, will on Kaua’i be forever known as the year of the deal, and the year Amfac Sugar Kaua’i said “aloha.” Though Amfac’s sprawling, 17,000-acre parcel, on the market before the engine had cooled on the last truck carrying Amfac sugar to mill, failed to sell before the end of 2000, it likely will be sold during the first quarter of the new year.
And Steve Case, founder of America Online and a man with roots on Kaua’i and in Hawai’i, made the shareholders of Grove Farm Company, Inc. a $26 million offer they couldn’t refuse for that company’s 22,000 acres stretching from Kilohana Crater to Po’ipu and including the incredible Maha’ulepu coastline.
Case, who purchased Grove Farm through two companies set up to handle his personal and family investments, is really the best man to own the land if long-term preservation of that Maha’ulepu coastline is a goal. Simply, he has no current financial need to build hotels on or otherwise develop that special area.
“I think Mr. Case purchasing Grove Farm is a huge story for our economy,” said Mamo Cummings, president of the Kaua’i Chamber of Commerce.
Recapping geographically, 2000 will be recalled as the year roughly one-fourth of the island was sold or for sale. And that doesn’t include the other dot.com money that snatched up smaller parcels and properties from Kekaha to Ha’ena.
Local Realtors have reported that 2000 was about as good a year as 1999 was, and 1999 was among the best in island history, in terms of sales volumes.
Bob German, owner and broker of Aloha Island Properties, who is the listing Realtor for the Amfac 17,800-acre parcel, and another oceanfront Amfac parcel between Hanama’ulu Beach Park and Wailua Golf Course, 24.71 acres listed for $3.9 million, said 2000 was as good a year for his company as 1999 was.
He is concerned, though, when talk turns to 2001 and beyond. “I’m a little bit worried about what’s going to happen.
“We get a lot of activity out of the Bay Area,” and with the dot.com entities losing money and value in the stock markets, he and other Realtors are concerned about what the future will bring.
His company also is marketing houselots in the new expansion of the Molokoa subdivision in the heart of Lihu’e, with lots going for $99,000 for 10,000 square feet. Two of those are in escrow, and the company plans to market them more aggressively this year.
Several business leaders The Garden Island talked to called the closure of Amfac the single largest business story of 2000.
“It’s caused the most issues,” said Gary Baldwin, chair of the Kaua’i Planning Commission, managing director of the Kaua’i Technology Center and Kaua’i member of the Hawai’i Tourism Authority.
“That seems to be the big topic,” said Kris Nakata, executive director of the Kaua’i Economic Development Board. “It has a big impact to the island.” “I think Amfac closing their sugar operations also impacts us as an island and as a business community, a great deal,” said Cummings.
“Eventually, everybody knew that (sugar) would be coming to an end,” Nakata said. “Hopefully, there will be jobs for everyone,” with lots of state and county programs in place to help those roughly 400 people who lost their jobs in mid-November.
“And I think a lot of the people, the workers, were probably anticipating something like this,” she said of the closing. “Hopefully, they all have alternatives as far as what they’ll be doing next year.
“Hopefully, the new year will not be too bleak for them. All of the families won’t have to suffer too much because of the closure,” Nakata continued. “And we don’t want anybody to leave if they don’t have to. Hopefully, they’ll find jobs here and won’t have to leave the island and go anywhere else.” Since the visitor industry remains the economic driver of the island and state economy, no end-of-year wrap story would be complete without checking the pulse of that which provides one in three jobs on this island.
According to U.S. Census figures, there were 19,400 total nonagricultural jobs on Kaua’i in 1998, and 5,946 were in the accommodations and food service category.
Cummings called the continued forward strides of the visitor industry on the island a top business story of 2000. “How our visitor industry has improved dramatically, not only on Kaua’i but being leaders in visitor count and (length of) stay, I believe, over the other counties,” is a big story, she said.
While state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism figures for November and the first 11 months of 2000 show Kaua’i a bit off last year’s pace, efforts to encourage longer stays as a way to offset the need to attract more visitors are working, according to Kaua’i Visitors Bureau officials.
Kauai’i will once again top the one-million-visitor mark in 2000, though that won’t be official until the December figures are released near the end of January.
When that happens, it will be the fourth consecutive year the island has greeted over one million visitors in a year.
Business Editor Paul C. Curtis can be reached at pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
