$47M Buys 29-Acre Oceanfront Site for 800-Unit Project

HAWAII, HI-An entitled 29-acre oceanfront resort site in the master planned Waikoloa Beach Resort area here has changed hands for $47 million. The seller was Elleair Homepaper Co. of Japan.

The new owner is a partnership led by Pasadena-based developer James Ratkovich and funded by Michael Dell and Lehman Bros. The team has preliminary plans to develop the site with 300 hotel rooms and 500 luxury condominium units in multiple low and mid-rise buildings.

The unimproved development site fronts Anaeho’omalu Bay and is the last undeveloped parcel within the 1,350 acre Waikoloa Beach Resort area on Hawaii’s Kohala Coast. Ratkovich tells GlobeSt.com the planning and permitting process should take 18 months and that he hopes to be moving dirt within two years. Height restrictions for the site are such that buildings will be no taller than six stories in some areas and no taller than three stories in other areas, says Ratkovich.

On one side of the site is the Waikoloa Beach Marriott and on the other side is conservation land and state-owned land that may never be developed, according to Ratkovich. In addition to the Marriott, the Waikoloa Beach Resort includes the Hilton Waikoloa Village, 880 luxury condos, two championship golf courses, and the Kings’ Shops, a 75,000-sf retail and entertainment complex.

The entity formed for the development is called Lonomakua Partners LLC. The partners include Ratkovich, Lehman Brothers Holdings and MSD Capital LP. James Ratkovich & Assoc. specializes in luxury residential development in California, Hawaii and Mexico. MSD Capital exclusively manages the capital of Michael Dell and his family. Lehman Brothers invests money on behalf of a variety of corporate, government and private clients.

Ratkovich is currently a development partner and investor in Wailea Beach Villas, a $250 million luxury oceanfront condominium project in Wailea Beach Resort on the Island of Maui. The development should be complete in April and is “virtually 100% presold” at prices ranging from $2 million to $7 million, according to Ratkovich.