Earlier this year, Hawaii developer Ed Bushor’s Tower Kauai Lagoons LLC, which involves Los Angeles’ Oaktree Capital Management LP, purchased the 450-acre property in Lihue for $60 million from timeshare giant Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corp.

Colorado-based Timbers Resorts is planning a $750 million to $800 million development of the unfinished Kauai Lagoons master-planned oceanfront community that will include 468 units in a mix of oceanfront and golf course homes, condominium units, hotel and townhomes.

“We have been in the design and planning phase, and we plan to start construction in early December on phase one, the Timbers Kauai Ocean Club & Residences,” said a representative from Timbers Resorts. “We’re taking the framework we inherited but putting our own stamp on it.”

The 47 residences will range from two to four bedrooms and will include townhomes and condos ranging from 1,600 square feet to 3,600 square feet with 1,100-square-foot lanais. 48 residences will have golf course and ocean views.

The existing golf course will be renamed to the 'Ocean Course' (formerly Kiele) and is planned to kick off in 2016. 

Yesterday, it was announced that the County of Kauai has been selected to receive a $13.8 million federal grant to revitalize Lihue. The Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant will help to improve roads, sidewalks and bike lanes and will help develop an urban core where more businesses can develop. This is an exciting step forward for Kauai.

Specifically, the projects that will be covered by the TIGER grant include safety improvements, a shared-use path from the Lihue Civic Center to the Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall and bicycle and pedestrian improvements on Hoolako Street.

In addition, the conversion of Eiwa Street to a transit hub will be completed, sidewalks will be installed on Hoala and Kalena streets, a bicycle boulevard will be added to Pualole and Malae streets, and transit services for the Lihue Civic Center will be expanded.

The county will provide 15 percent in matching funds bringing the Lihue project total to $15.5 million.

The process of purchasing a property can be a confusing process at times. But it doesn't have to be! When you better understand the concepts and laws behind Kauai real estate, it makes the process much easier. Here are some answers to some of the most common real estate questions!

What is a CPR?

What is a TMK?

What is a 1031 Exchange?

What are the TVR/BNB/Homestay Regulations on Kauai?

How Do I Move My Pets to Kauai?

Bill Porter, the founder of E-trade was many things, including a cowboy, ex-Navy, MIT graduate, innovator, entrepreneur, father, husband, grandfather and great-grandfather. But to those who live on Kauai, he was a philanthropist that used his fortune to improve the community through organic farming, recreation and community and education. He passed away on Wednesday at his home in Princeville at 87 years old. 

Bill lived a full life which started in Boulder, CO where he grew up on a ranch and learned about discipline and self confidence through his days riding horses. In high school, he dropped out of school to join the Navy but was too young at the tender age of 16. He re-enlisted when he was old enough and served a tour of duty.

His education included Mathematics & Physics degrees at Colorado Adam's State College & Kansas State University. He later gained his Masters at MIT where he earned his Master's of Business Administration as a sloan fellow. In 1982, he started E-trade which revolutionized stock trading by allowing individual investors to make their own trade. After the success of E-trade, he co-founded the International Securities Exchange. 30+ years after gaining his Masters at MIT, he retuned to MIT as a professor of entrepreneurship at the school he earned his Master's degree and donated $25 million to the Sloan School to construct the William A. Porter Management Center. 

When asked about his contribution to MIT, Porter said, “My wife and I decided to give one major thing that would have significant meaning for humankind, and trying to leverage the Institute’s technological capability through entrepreneurship for the betterment of the human condition is it.”

When Bill moved to Kauai in 2004, he was 76 years old. Him and his wife Joan purchased 500 acres with a dream to use the land to give back to the community through arts, education, recreation and agriculture. When Bill and Joan purchased Wai Koa Plantation, the Stone Dam was hidden and not easily accessible to the public. It was there that his vision for Anaina Hou, or “a new gathering place" took shape. 

Anaina Hou in Kilauea, which includes the Stone Dam that Bill loved so much, is also home to the 5 mile Wai Koa Loop trail, skate park, mini-golf course, playground, cafe/gift shop, nursery, park and ride lot, recycling center, bike rentals & farmers market. 

If you've ever hiked the Wai Koa Loop trail, you'll see the fruit trees, mahogany groves and hydroponic greenhouses of Kauai Fresh Farms which sells organic greens and vegetables to the Kauai community on the Wai Koa Plantation. It is the first farm on the island to gain food-safety certification through the state Department of Agriculture.

When asked about Anaina Hou, Bill told The Garden Island, “It gives a place for the community to come together, and we’re very glad to do that." 

E ho'omaha me ka maluhia and Mahalo Bill Porter for your contributions, time and love for this beautiful island we call home. 

The Garden Isle, is constantly working towards a greener future for our community and a new initiative to replace all street lights with LEDs is one more step in the right direction. This makes Kauai the first island state to make this a reality.

Currently, the county has the majority of the lights with 2,900 on island. This would equate to a savings of $500,000 annually. The state has 582 lights. The LED lights will consume a 1/3 of the energy of the existing lights.

In 2013, David Bissell, president and CEO of KIUC and Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr signed an agreement committing KIUC and the local government to work together to reduce the cost of fossil fuels and lower the energy cost for it’s residents which is 4 times the cost of the mainland. 

The project will begin in 2016 and will take a year to complete. Electronic controls will help to adjust based on time of day and seasonality adding to the efficiency of this retrofit. Here’s to a brighter and more efficient future for our Island!

Reside Kauai is happy to help support the Na Keiki o Halele'a Foundation ('The Children of The House Of Joy'), an organization that works to inspire and motivate the youth of our community. When Reside Kauai was founded one of the driving forces was to be a local real estate company that gave back to the local community. The Na Keiki o Halele'a foundation helps us to do just that with its goal to inspire Kauai’s youth in building healthy lifestyle choices, through the fun of preparing for and participating in free community based after school programs and athletic events.

Through three different after-school programs currently on the North Shore, the Na Keiki o Halele'a Foundation hopes to inspire and create a community of healthy, motivated and happy children.

HANALEI BAY SURFING PROGRAM

What: Children will be offered the opportunity to be mentored in surfing along with other active beach games.

Where: Program will be held in Hanalei Bay at the beach. Permits will be acquired for use of state or county parks.

When: Program will be once a week. Every Friday 3:30pm during the scheduled school year.

Number of Children: 10
Number of Certified Adults: 2

HANALEI ART GALLERY ARTS PROGRAM

What: Children will be offered the opportunity to be mentored in variety of arts including cinematography, painting, photography, music, etc.

Where: Program will be held at the Patrick Chings Art Gallery in Hanalei Town in their upstairs children’s learning facility.

When: Program will be once a week. Every Monday 3:00pm during the scheduled school year.

Number of Children: 10
Number of Certified Adults: 2

KILAUEA MARTIAL ARTS PROGRAM

What: Children will be offered the opportunity to be mentored in and taught a variety of martial arts including wrestling, boxing, savate, yoga, etc.

Where: Program will be held in Kilauea Town. Program will be located at a private gym built for the cultivation of martial arts.

When: Programs will be held once a week. Every Wednesday 3:00pm during the scheduled school year. 

Number of Children: 10

Number of Certified Adults: 2

If you are interested in donating to this incredible organization, volunteering your time or enrolling your keiki you can get more information at: http://www.haleleakeiki.org. 

If you've ever tasted Koloa Rum, which is produced locally here on Kauai, you can taste it's subtle sweetness from the sugar used to produce it. Now that sweetness will come from locally grown sugar cane, revitalizing a crop that has a rich history on Kauai. 

The 7 acres of cane grow on Gay & Robinson land within site of the silenced Olokele Mill. The mill closed 6 years ago after a total of 120 years of cane cultivation on the land. The company processes the cane right there in the field.

“We have a crusher mounted on a trailer. We hand-harvest and crush the cane in the field, store the juice in a tank and bring it to the distillery,” Bob Gunter, president and CEO of Koloa Rum told The Garden Island.

When the rum company received its federal, state and county permits, it bought raw sugar from Gay & Robinson as the feedstock for the distilling process. When Gay & Robinson cane was no longer available, Koloa Rum began purchasing sugar from Alexander & Baldwin’s HC&S factory on Maui — the last full-scale sugar plantation in Hawaii. They plan to supplement HC&S sugar with local Kauai cane as they ramp up operations. 

The company produces a white, a gold and a dark rum, a spiced rum and a coconut rum, and a line of ready-to-drink cocktails. It recently launched a new product - Kauai Coffee rum, using coffee beans from the Kauai Coffee fields of West Kauai. It's a great thing to see local businesses support the local agricultural community. And the rum is sure to taste a little bit sweeter.

An exciting new addition to the Lihue restaurant scene is moving into the old Feral Pig location in the Harbor Mall in Lihue. Hawaii Pastor, Tom Iannucci along with his business partners are opening a Neapolitan Pizza restaurant in November/December of this year. This will be the first Neapolitan pizza restaurant on Kauai. Central to the restaurant will be a wood-fired, handcrafted brick oven from Naples.

Iannucci, who is of Italian descent, spent a month training & eating lots of pizza in Naples. In a quote to PBN, he said “My family is from that region, and it was a good month. I went to about 27 different brick oven pizza spots, taking a look at the different [ways pizza is made]. I ate and drank beer. I ate pizza for lunch and dinner for 27 days straight.”

He has plans for a restaurant in Harbor Mall, one serving New York-style pizzas, which is called Pietro’s Pizza, and the other serving Neapolitan pizza, some beer, wine and other treats.

And if you are missing the Feral Burger, The Feral Pig has plans to re-open in another location (not yet determined).

Nearly 8 years ago Alaska Airlines decided to move their focus into the Hawaii Market. Aloha & ATA Airlines shut down in 2008 creating a gap in the market that Alaska was excited to fill. It's worked well for them and Alaska Airlines currently accounts for 27% of the West Coast visitors to Hawaii and 15% of overall traffic. Their newest venture is using Hawaiian biofuel on their flights which will go into effect in 2018. 

Two years ago, Alaska Airlines and Hawaii BioEnergy signed an agreement which would allow the air carrier to start procuring jet fuel for its Hawaii flights as soon as fall 2018. 

In April, a spokeswoman for Alaska Airlines told PBN in an email that it has no other agreements with any other Hawaii-based firms for biofuel supplies.

Alaska Airlines said it has reduced its carbon footprint by 30 percent since 2004. In 2011, Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air were the first domestic airlines to fly multiple passenger flights powered by a biofuel blend.

Hawaii BioEnergy is a consortium of three of the state’s largest landowners and venture capital firms including Kamehameha Schools, Maui Land & Pineapple Co. Inc., Grove Farm, Finistere Ventures LLC and Ulupono Initiative.

If you've ever been to Mark's Place or eaten from Contemporary Flavors Catering in Lihue, you've tasted Mary Oyama's culinary creations. Mark, who is also a Kauai Community College instructor, has been inducted in to the ninth annual Hawaii Restaurant Association Hall of Fame on Sept 21 in Oahu.

Inductees into the Hall of Fame are selected for their dedication and commitment to the growth of the restaurant and food service industry in Hawaii.

Oyama starting teaching in China, but has held chef positions in Alaska, Connecticut, Oahu and the Big Island before accepting a faculty position at KCC in 1992. Little did Oyama know that his culinary skills would come in handy as 1992 was the year that Hurricane Iniki hit and he was in charge of managing the kitchen as a temporary shelter for the community. He served over 90,000 meals to those affected. 

A true leader in our community, Oyama serves on more than seven boards, including the Kauai Mayor’s Agricultural Advisory Board and the Kauai Economic Development Food and Agriculture Council.

Congrats to Mark Oyama on this recognition!