HILO — A former school campus at Mauna Lani resort could see new life as a shopping plaza, if the County Council approves rezoning the property from agriculture to mixed commercial/industrial. ADVERTISING HILO — A former school campus at Mauna
HILO — A former school campus at Mauna Lani resort could see new life as a shopping plaza, if the County Council approves rezoning the property from agriculture to mixed commercial/industrial.
The school, known as the Seagull School at Mauna Lani, was used most recently as a preschool and daycare for workers at the resort. Located on Hoohana Street, it closed in 2013.
The rezoning application is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Tuesday before the council’s Planning Committee. The meeting will be held in Hilo council chambers, with videoconference testimony accepted from the West Hawaii Civic Center, Old Kohala Courthouse, Naalehu state office building and Pahoa council office.
The applicant, Salem, Oregon-based RB2 Investors LLC, wants to modify the existing 6,667-square-foot school building to create a 20-unit lease space for business, offices, self-storage and a cafe. An additional 1,000-square-foot building will be used as a self-storage facility, and a third, 8,220-square-foot building would accommodate up to 10 additional lease spaces in phase 2, under plans presented to the Leeward Planning Commission on Feb. 16.
The parking lot will be improved and expanded from 21 to 68 paved parking spaces. The property totals 1.7 acres.
The first phase of the project, at a cost of $1.5 million, would begin within six months of permit approval, the developers said. The second phase would begin within three to five years of the first phase, depending on market conditions.
“It will be re-purposed as a, let’s say, a little more modest commercial area than the Mauna Lani Shops that are just around the corner, and should be complementary,” Waimea planning consultant Rodger Harris told the Planning Commission. “There is demand in Mauna Lani for some lower cost, commercial office space.”
Neither Harris nor Kohala Councilman Tim Richards could be reached for comment by press time Thursday.
The Planning Commission favors the plan, passing the rezoning unanimously, according to the commission’s minutes.
“I think this is a great project,” said Commissioner Nancy Carr Smith. “I think it will serve a need in the Mauna Lani area.”
