Ground has not even been broken yet for a 59-unit luxury condominium project at Princeville, and at least 48 of the units are in escrow already. If real estate sales on Kaua’i were supposed to take a nosedive last year,
Ground has not even been broken yet for a 59-unit luxury condominium project at Princeville, and at least 48 of the units are in escrow already.
If real estate sales on Kaua’i were supposed to take a nosedive last year, particularly after the events of September 11th, nobody told Don Schultz, developer of two projects of luxury condominium townhomes along Princeville golf courses that have generally seen units gobbled up before the soil can harden around the for sale signs.
And these aren’t the typical Princeville condominium units that had been for sale in the range of around $190,000 to $230,000 (median sales prices over the last two full years, according to figures from the Kaua’i Board of Realtors).
The Villas on the Prince, a 41-unit project along the Prince Golf and Country Club being built by Shioi Construction, had units for around $500,000 each, sold out long before the first unit was finished earlier this month, and has seen 12 units re-sell for a second time, said Schultz, managing member of two limited liability companies that are developing Villas on the Prince and Villas of Kamali’i.
Villas of Kamali’i, a 59-unit project of two-story attached homes, features units with 1,800 square feet, three bedrooms, three baths, attached single-car garage, many with private interior courtyards, ranging in price from $430,000 to $515,000.
On the market since mid-November, buyers, mostly those adding a second home, have gobbled up the Villas of Kamali’i like popcorn at a movie theater.
It was a repeat of the phenomenal success of Villas on the Prince. “We could have sold 100, not just the 41 being built for Villas on the Prince,” Schultz said at the spring 2001 groundbreaking for Villas on the Prince.
The first homeowners moved in earlier this month.
Villas of Kamali’i is a 7.6-acre site across Lei O Papa Road from Makai Club Cottages, and near the Princeville Golf Club’s Makai Golf Course clubhouse. As the crow flies, it is nearly exactly halfway between the Princeville Shopping Center and Princeville Hotel.
Views of Hanalei Bay, the nearby golf course, the vast Pacific Ocean, and mountains stretching up from Hanalei Valley, are available in some combination from every unit.
The developers of Villas on the Prince, led by the energetic Schultz, purchased the site after it became apparent that Villas on the Prince would be a sold-out success.
But even Schultz and company couldn’t have anticipated the pent-up buying fury unleashed by the announcement of the sale of units at the Villas of Kamali’i.
After just eight weeks on the market, the project is 85 percent sold out, though Ruthie Schultz, who with her husband is also a Realtor associate with Century 21 All Islands at Princeville, assures would-be buyers that there are still 11 units as of this writing that are neither in escrow nor under contract.
But that could have changed over this weekend, with the demand the project has drawn.
All told, in less than 12 months, 90 half-million-dollar condominiums have sold at Princeville, including 48 in eight weeks, and 18 in the last two weeks of 2001, at Villas of Kamali’i.
“This is where people are moving to,” said Don Schultz, indicating that the pace of sales of his projects has at least slightly impacted the single-family-home real estate market on the north shore.
If people weren’t buying the condominiums, they would be looking for single-family homes in the area, he reasons.
Schultz, who is excited by nature, is extremely happy “about helping Kaua’i,” adding that the new owners of the condominiums, while not all permanent Kaua’i residents, enjoy local restaurants, activities, golf, and other amenities while they’re here.
Century 21 All Islands has handled exclusively handled sales of the new project. Ken Kubiak, vice president and broker in charge, said, “If there is any change in the north shore market, it is a direct result of the significant impact which sales of the Villas on the Prince and Villas of Kamali’i have had.
“In the last 12 months, we have sold over $45 million worth of new home sales in this luxury townhome category, with only the first units being turned over this past week,” said Kubiak. “This situation has artificially lowered the sales statistics for the north shore of Kauai.
“In reality, the upward sales trend for the north shore has continued through 2000, 2001 and now into 2002. The offering of the luxury townhome design for the first time on the north shore has provided an option for purchase for which many potential single-family home buyers have been longing,” he explained.
For more information, please see www.ee-inc.net/villasofkamalii, or call 826-1704 or 826-7750.
Business Editor Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
