The Villages of 'Aina Le'a

09/27/2019

West Hawaii Today

Is Aina Lea finally ready to be built?

By Chelsea Jensen West Hawaii | Wednesday, September 25, 2019

KAILUA-KONA — A South Kohala developer says it is moving forward with the Town of Aina Lea, while the county is reminding the company that all requirements must be met should the long-delayed project actually want to get off the ground.
Aina Lea Inc. has set a public scoping meeting for 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott in South Kohala in accordance with the requirements for the developer to move forward with a draft Environmental Impact Statement for the 2,226-home project on the

Kohala Coast. The developer filed in late August with the County of Hawaii a preparation notice for the document.
The 90-minute meeting will provide attendees with a broader understanding of the project, as well as the opportunity to bring suggestions and comments for the design of the Town of Aina Lea, which was formerly known as the Villages at Aina Lea, according to Bob Wessels CEO and chairman.
“It’s been a long process,” Wessels said of what’s essentially been a decade that the project’s been on hold amid legal and regulatory wrangling.
In addition, Kelly Valenzuela, with eXp Realty, will be on hand to discuss the Lulana Gardens affordable housing units for rent and purchase, as well as how to apply for a grant to help with down payment.
The move comes several months after Aina Lea Inc. emerged from bankruptcy with plans to get the project back underway.
The environmental document needs to be accepted and approved by Hawaii County in order for the developer to move forward with amending a Project District application approved in 1996 that allowed for the development. It would also address a 2017 stop-work order issued after the county determined Aina Lea Inc. was in violation of a 2013 court order requiring a supplemental EIS to cover the entire 3,000 acres of Aina Lea, and conditions the county imposed in rezoning the land.
Aina Lea Inc. says the new EIS will update the one approved by the county in 2010 (and ultimately deemed invalid by the court in 2013) by addressing “the impact of changing the 1996 county ordinance 96-153 for a portion of 1,099 acres of prime development property to a more modern Project District to be known as the Town of Aina Lea,” the company said in an Aug. 27 press release.

According to the developer, the number of homes approved in 1996 was 2,658. The current plan calls for 2,226 single- and multi-family homes, with 432 of those being units meeting Hawaii County’s affordable housing standard of $470,000 to $509,000 on Aina Lea Inc.’s 1,099 acres.
Bridge Aina Lea LLC owns the remaining acreage that once composed the 3,000-acre project first approved in 1989 under developer Signal Puako Corp. Aina Lea Inc. in its EIS-PN said Bridge intends to develop its lands, which will require a separate EIS.
However, Aina Lea Inc.’s EIS will study cumulative impacts, “including the cumulative traffic impact with respect to the newly planned developments in the Waikoloa to Mauna Kea resort area, and the cumulative impact that the Project might have on lands owned by Bridge Aina LLC.”
“What we’re doing is the EIS on what we own and then we are doing an impact on the surrounding area,” Wessels said when asked about the county requiring the document study the entire 3,000-acre area. “Not only the 1,933 acres of Bridge, but also the expansion of the Mauna Lani and another project down the road that will generate traffic.”
Hawaii County Planning Director Michael Yee earlier this month said the county’s position remains that an environmental impact statement is needed for the entire 3,000 acres proposed for development three decades ago, among other requirements. The court-ordered tolling order dating to 2013 and a stop-work notice issued by the county in May 2017 remain in “full force and effect.”
In a letter to the developer dated Sept. 9, Yee notified Wessels that the county wasn’t able to accept and provide the preparation notice to the OEQC for publication due to deficiencies that “need to be corrected and addressed.” He advised that the public meeting be rescheduled after revisions are made to the notice.

“I rejected their EIS-PN. Planning Department recommended to Aina Lea Inc. to delay having a public meeting till after we accept a EIS-PN,” Yee said in an email to West Hawaii Today on Tuesday. “They certainly plan to continue with their scheduled public meeting and I hope they provide accurate information to the public. I cannot tell you what will be in their EIS, thus, impossible for me to make a determination at this time.”
When asked if Wessels felt Aina Lea Inc.’s current EIS effort would meet the county’s requirements and allow the project to resume, he said, “basically, yes, we’re doing what the county wants. And this EIS-PN will help clarify that.”
If the county lifts the stop-work order, Wessels said, the company is about six months away from completion of the first units in the Lulana Gardens, which comprises two of the 20 villages that would compose the Town of Aina Lea. Full build-out is expected to occur in six phases over 15 to 20 years.

04/15/2019

New life for South Kohala development

By Chelsea Jensen West Hawaii Today Thursday, April 11, 2019

KAILUA-KONA - Aina Lea Inc. expects to emerge from bankruptcy next month following a judge's tentative approval of a plan that will make viable the continued development of The Villages of Aina Lea.
"This should very well be it," Robert Wessels, Aina Lea Inc. CEO and chairman, said of the long-stymied South Kohala project getting underway again after 10 years of essentially being on-hold amid legal and regulatory wrangling.
With two major financiers committed to financing the affordable housing component of the project, Lulana Gardens, Wessels says the company has all the "capital necessary to move forward" with the project that would add more than 1,900 affordable and luxury residential units to the Big Island housing market.
Construction could get back underway within a year, so long as all conditions of the plan are met, company officials say.
"We're looking at hopefully being in construction before the end of the year and being able to deliver the units early next year because we have several units standing that are ready to be finished and turned over for the for-sale side of it," Wessels said.
Aina Lea Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection June 22, 2017, after years of litigation and regulatory issues stymied the development resulting in lenders calling loans and ultimately filing foreclosure proceedings.
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert J. Faris on Monday confirmed the company's reorganization plan subject to approval of exit financing during a hearing in Honolulu, signaling the end of the South Kohala developer's nearly two-year trek through bankruptcy is near.
Wessels said Tuesday Aina Lea Inc. expects to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May once the court signs off on the exit financing facilities.
The reorganization plan outlines how Aina Lea Inc. will pay back the more than $60 million it owes creditors. Among those creditors are Bridge Aina Lea, which is owed $20 million, and Romspen Investment Corp., which is owed $13.3 million.
"We are hopeful that Aina Lea, Inc.'s proposed financing will close next month, and that the project can then move forward with the prompt completion of the EIS," Bruce Voss, counsel for Bridge Aina Lea said via email.
The company, according to its reorganization plan, anticipates it can nearly pay back nearly, if not all, it owes within five years.
"After 10 years, with all the starts and stops and all the difficulties we've had, we were able, as a result of this proceeding, to capitalize the company in a comprehensive way that allows us to move forward and obtain the fresh start that the bankruptcy code contemplates for viable companies like ours," said Steve Jakubowski, attorney for Aina Lea Inc. "We were able to restructure the obligations in a way that really significantly enhanced the equity of the company. We're now a very well capitalized company as a result of the bankruptcy."
Also included in the plan is a map of the steps Aina Lea Inc. plans to take to meet for governmental development conditions that have blocked the project from moving forward over the years.
The company says its Land Use Action Plan - which will take about 10 to 18 months to implement - will resolve those conditions, including a court-ordered Tolling Order dating to 2013 and a stop-work notice issued by the county in May 2017 that also threatened to down-zone the project area due to noncompliance.
Aina Lea Inc. will prepare a new - not supplemental - environmental impact statement for the full 3,000 acres proposed for development about three decades ago, including its 1,072 acres and 1,927 acres owned by Bridge Aina Lea to meet the Tolling Order and stop-work notice.
Aina Lea Inc. will then submit an application to Hawaii County for new Project District zoning that would remove its land from a 1996 county ordinance that allowed the project. A new ordinance would provide the developer with greater flexibility to bring the project to reality.
In the interim, the county, on March 5, agreed to hold-off on initiating down-zoning of the project area based on the assumption that the plan will enable Aina Lea Inc. to comply with the Tolling Order and eventually provide the necessary environmental review to apply for the Project District. The stop-work order will "remain in full force and effect."
Once Aina Lea Inc. is in compliance, work is commenced and units ready, sales of homes will begin, according to the plan.
Lulana Gardens comprises two of the 20 villages that would compose The Villages of Aina Lea, which is also called The Town at Aina Lea. At build out, it now includes 1,932 single- and multi-family residential units on 1,072 acres mauka of Queen Kaahumanu Highway and Mauna Lani Resort.
There'll also be a mixed-use commercial area, a school site, open space for a future golf course, two or more parks and a network of cycling paths and natural open space buffers.
Within Lulana Gardens will be 432 townhouse units designated to meet local housing needs and earn Aina Lea Inc. at least 385 affordable housing credits. Aina Lea Inc. said it has already invested $40 million in capital with construction of dozens of affordable housing units and related infrastructure there. Though the units have been sitting since 2010, they remain in "great shape."
Wessels announced Tuesday that 160 of the affordable units would be for rent - a change from prior proposals.
"We've got financing to build the for-sale units, which is what we originally planned to do, but because there is such a critical need for housing and some of the people don't have the credit to be able to buy into the houses at this time, we have processing a HUD-insured market-rate loan for 160 of the townhouses to be rented to families under the county's affordable rental rates," Wessels said.
The for-sale affordable housing units would open first with units selling at prices determined by Hawaii County's affordable housing guidelines currently set at $470,000 to $509,000, according to the reorganization plan.
Lulana Gardens will then be followed by Hoolei Village, a luxury home building area consisting of 70 single-family residential lots. Prices for luxury home sales in the area, such as would be built at Hoolei Village, run from $975,000 to nearly $3 million, according to the plan.
Aina Lea plans for townhouse sales to be marketed through local real estate brokers and sales representatives while lot and luxury condominium sales will be marketed through one or more international brokers. The developer said it has over 1,000 international-based shareholders who could introduce the debtor's housing projects into 11 countries.

12/20/2011

More good news for Aina Le'a from The Honolulu Star Advertiser!

12/19/2011

DW Aina Le'a prevails in lawsuit over State Land Use Commission!

In a decision that could have far-reaching implications for land use law in Hawaii, Third District Circuit Court Judge Elizabeth Strance has reversed a decision from the state LUC that sought to revoke the long standing urban land classification of The Villages of Aina Le'a.

Judge Strance ordered the LUC to void both their Order to Show Cause and their Final Order, reclassifying the property to agricultural use. The Judge found that the LUC violated their own governing statute, HRS 205, they violated due process, and they violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Judge Strance stated that the LUC had lost sight of its mission in this case and "could not see the forest for the trees." It was clear to the court that DW Aina Le'a "had completed the sixteen units," thereby fulfilling the obligation that had been mandated as a condition by the LUC, and that the Aina Le'a project had been unfairly "treated as a class of one."

Check back soon for our latest newsletter.

For more information click on the link:

http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/sections/news/local-news/3rd-circuit-reverses-luc-ruling.html

12/19/2011

http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/sections/news/local-news/3rd-circuit-reverses-luc-ruling.html

A Big Island judge ruled the Land Use Commission overstepped its authority when it reverted a South Kohala land classification from urban to agriculture earlier this year.

10/15/2011

Keep an eye out for our next newsletter scheduled to come out in November.

06/10/2011

Please take a moment to answer the West Hawaii Today's Opinion Poll regarding The Villages of 'Aina Le'a project. Scroll down to the bottom right hand side below the Best of West Hawaii logo to place your vote!
http://westhawaiitoday.com/

HILO -- The sight of Mauna Kea's white peaks can be startling to Big Island visitors during the winter months. But even longtime residents were taken aback when the mountain collected between 6 and 12...

06/08/2011

If you haven't seen the paper today here is the most recent article - following up on last nights community meeting with the County Planning Director
http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/sections/news/local-news/weighing-aina-lea.html

Doing so may expose the county to litigation, Planning Director Bobby Jean Leithead Todd said. Sixteen of the units have undergone final inspection but still don't have electrical, water or wastewater connections. Until those are available, and until the internal roads and the access road intersecti

06/06/2011

6 pm - Waikoloa Village Meeting Room (at golf course) -Please co,e and show your support of Lulana Gardens and Aina Lea - This Tuesday - Tomorrow! Director of Planning will be speaking about the project moving ahead. Mahalo!

06/04/2011

Recent news about the land use issue
http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/sections/news/local-news/lawyers-ask-judge-delay-land-use-decision.html

Not allowing DW Aina Lea to proceed with construction, despite a Land Use Commission ruling against the project, will cause the developer to break promises to the community, lose goodwill it had with its foreign investors and delay the opening of affordable town houses, attorneys argue.