MaunaKeaLiving.com and Hapuna Realty announce new oceanfront condominiums on the Big Island.
By Brielle Bryan
Set within the iconic Mauna Kea Resort on the lush western coast of Hawaii — the legendary destination where modern island luxury was born — a new collection of exceptional residences is reinventing the beloved resort for the next generation. Just mere steps from two of Hawaii’s most celebrated beaches, with sweeping views from the snow-capped Mauna Kea volcano all the way to Maui, the Hapuna Beach Residences present a rare and limited opportunity to own one of the last and most coveted beachfront properties in all of Hawaii.
The Residences promise an exhilarating beachfront lifestyle that embraces the warm and welcoming spirit of aloha. Limited to just 62 owners in total, the spacious and sophisticated residences offer unobstructed views from each of the four distinctive floor plans, ranging from one to four bedrooms and up to 3,400 square feet. The initial release offers 17 of the most exceptional properties in the collection along with exclusive benefits for debut release buyers.
“Early buyers are afforded the benefit of locking in one of the most favored properties at the debut rate, as well as the added luxury of customizing select finishes, and first choice selection of an original work from Hawaiian painter Jaline Pol, our artist in residence,” said Tomo Matsumoto, owner of Hapuna Realty, the dedicated brokerage exclusively representing the property.
Guided by two of Hawaii’s most respected firms — de Reus Architects and Philpotts Interiors — the Residences reinterpret island luxury for the modern age. Elegantly understated interiors and open living areas with floor-to-ceiling windows flow into well-appointed chef’s kitchens with Sub-Zero and Wolf appliances — all connected by expansive oceanfront glass terraces that maximize the indoor and outdoor lifestyle of living just steps from the beach. The contemporary décor is strong and subtle, with warm wood accents and a neutral color palette that allow the serene lushness of the land to shine.
“Hapuna Beach Residences promise to be an incomparable living environment — private, quietly exclusive and in all ways visually and spiritually invigorating.” Matsumoto said. “It’s the perfect setting for entertaining or spending time with family against the backdrop of a magnificent Hawaiian sunset.”
The Residences are the latest offering to come to market from MaunaKeaLiving.com’s collection of new contemporary living options within the resort, and have a starting price of $1,500,000. Along with the one-of-a-kind Hapuna Beach Villa — a spectacular four bedroom, 10,600 square foot private oceanfront estate — and Hapuna Estates homesites, the Residences are part of a multi-million-dollar transformation bringing fresh excitement to the Mauna Kea. At the centerpiece of the expansive refresh is the new Westin Hapuna Beach Resort; a dramatic $46 million renovation which debuted in March, with transformed common spaces, refreshed dining experiences, beautifully re-imagined guest rooms and an invigorating new wellness and workout center. Owners can easily access the hotel’s amenities, as well as those at the neighboring Mauna Kea Beach Hotel.
Owners have the opportunity to join The Club at Mauna Kea, considered the most active and vibrant club on the island. Members enjoy preferred tee times at two world-class courses, and there is a lively social scene at the Seaside Tennis Club, named one of the world’s top five tennis experiences. Three fitness centers, inspiring dining options and a revitalizing spa rejuvenate and refuel the mind, body and soul. Owners also have exclusive access to the new Amaui Club at Mauna Kea Resort, with fitness activities, massages, men’s and women’s locker rooms with steam showers, a pool, water slide and barbecue area.
Photos courtesy of Hapuna Beach Residences
Hualalai’s individual communities each possess unique character and ambiance, all offering spectacular vistas and cooling tradewinds.
By Camilla McLaughlin
All photos courtesy Hualalai
An old Hawaiian saying is, “You don’t choose the island, the island chooses you.” After a recent visit to Hualalai on the island of Hawaii, I left completely smitten by the magic of the place, and in my wildest dreams I tend to think maybe I am one of the chosen.
It doesn’t take long to fall under the spell. Arrive at Hualalai and you’re greeted with a mai tai and a lei. Check-in takes place in a comfortable open-air space with the ocean shimmering under the moonlight in the distance. In a region awash with five-star properties, Hualalai is a standout, and what makes it so exceptional is passion — passion for the property paired with a reverence for the land and the Hawaiian culture that is shared by everyone who works there. It permeates every aspect of the resort from architecture to food to the Alaka‘ i Nalu, explorers of the waves. Very few places are able to orchestrate such a fine balance between authenticity, a connection to the land and a superlative guest experience.
During a recent visit, anticipation of an annual food and wine celebration with visiting celebrity chefs, was full on. An herb garden was being readied for a pop-up cooking academy. Chefs worked with David Choi, director of natural resources, to gather salt from a nearby stretch of beach. Also at the ready was a stock of oysters grown onsite in a lake fed by a subterranean aquifer and drawn through lava wells, only one of a couple sites verified by the state for this cultivation. These oysters are only available to residents and guests at the resort.
In addition to a Four Season’s resort, Hualalai includes residences ranging from villas to custom homes. Outdoor shower gardens, walls that disappear to open homes to the tradewinds, and designs that uniquely align with today’s lifestyle preferences are hallmarks, as are views of distant mountains and Maui. Almost everywhere, the ocean forms a backdrop thanks to changing elevations. Owners have extensive private amenities, including a clubhouse and restaurants. One of the resort’s two golf courses is private. Also reserved for residents is a beachfront restaurant, a prime place for dinner and sunset cocktails. Chefs at all the restaurants are masters at coaxing the best from the local bounty.
Rather than buildings, the most prominent feature here is the landscape — miles of coastline and lava rocks, an iconic signature of the island. The grounds are extensive with pathways that meander past low-slung bungalows embraced by a jungle landscape. Locals like to say the resort sits lightly on the land, and that’s only possible when development is guided by a commitment to stewardship.
Along the shores of Big Island’s Kohala Coast, it’s no secret that private club community Kohanaiki is changing the face of luxury of the Hawaiian Islands and beyond — and they’ve got the sales to prove it.
By Samantha Myers
“I guess you can say we’ve had a great first half of the year. We surpassed $100 million in sales since January,” says Nicole L. K. Vincent, principal broker for Kohanaiki. “We have more than tripled the sales from the first half of last year.” Attributed to the surge in demand for the 450-acre residential development was the debut of its 67,000-square-foot clubhouse at the beginning of the year, which has quickly become a lifestyle meeting place for its residents.
“I think it’s important to recognize that our members are a unique set of individuals,” says George Punoose, general manager. “They are well-traveled, sophisticated and they’ve seen a lot of special places over the world.” Kohanaiki offers members two home options: buildable home sites and turnkey properties, from $1 million for custom home sites to over $16 million for turnkey properties. But with property, also comes private club membership — with a $150,000 entrance fee and a $25,000 annual fee, Kohanaiki is at the forefront of full-service luxurious living.
“What I find really special is the vertical membership,” says Vincent of the program that enables siblings, children and grandparents to be members. “You get families and generations coming together for holidays. Everyone’s so happy to spend time together, golfing, going out on the ocean on the boat… creating these magical memories in Hawaii.”
Recent to the luxury development is a new director of its world-class spa offering an extensive menu of wellness and relaxation treatments. “Our focus on the spa has always been to use ingredients that are local, whether that’s the coffee, the sand, mud or lava soil,” says Punoose. Other additions include the opening of an on-site brewery, providing residents a choice alternative to the otherwise wine-centric property.
Despite the abundance of amenities, a Rees Jones golf course, and ideal coastal surfing and snorkeling spots, when it comes down to it, the essence of Kohanaiki is actually in the intangible. “Time and time again, we constantly hear that what is special at Kohanaiki is not only the product and the service,” says Punoose. “But our biggest factor is the quality of people we hire — their attitude and friendliness.”
BIG ISLAND’S LATEST PRIVATE LUXURY DEVELOPMENT IN NEARLY A DECADE IS MAKING ITS MARK ON THE HAWAIIAN LANDSCAPE AND THE RESIDENTIAL MARKET.
By Samantha Myers
This is an extended version of an article originally in Unique Homes Ultimate 2017. Click here to view the print version. Also check out our breaking story on Kohanaiki’s clubhouse from February 2017.
There’s nothing like stepping out of a pressurized plane cabin into Big Island’s pacific breeze. But Kohanaiki — a private club community only two miles from Kona International Airport — takes that refreshment a step further. Handed lava rock-filtered water and a chilled towelette in a private shuttle, we headed to the source of this impeccable service — a place both breathtaking, and where you can catch your breath.
Like most homesites on Kohanaiki, our 3-bedroom hale offered an inland backdrop of Hualālai’s mountains and views extending to the pristine coastline. A tour of the 450-acre property via electric golf carts, the main form of transportation on property, and a walk-through of the brand-new, 67,000-square-foot clubhouse provided a true understanding of life here.
“The Kohala Coast of Big Island is famous for its year-round sunny, tropical vacation weather,” says James Lynch, sales executive for Kohanaiki Realty, LLC. “It’s a perfect environment for indoor-outdoor living.” Kohanaiki’s distinct architectural style, a contemporary interpretation of traditional Hawaiian design, was developed by a handful of esteemed architects. The sleek, atmospheric outdoor-orientated architecture is not only a selling point for its available homesites, but is also a paradise-like setting for its amenities.
With our freshly caught cuisine enjoyed at the signature open-wall sushi bar and chophouse Kōnane, and beach dining with seating that spills onto the white-sand beach, the open-air became our dining room.”This is a setting where shoes are optional, as life can be lived here pure and natural,” Lynch adds.
A tour around the Rees Jones-designed golf course offers ideal vantage points of the carefully planned and preserved landscape — where smooth greens interlace with black volcanic rock, environmentally protected anchialine ponds, ancient sites and six masterful oceanfront holes for golfers. You gain an appreciation of the land and what Kohanaiki has done to both preserve and accentuate its features while at the same time providing a comfortable lifestyle for its members.
“Kohanaiki appeals to people with a taste for adventure, an appreciation for the finer things in life, and a desire for a laid-back environment,” says President and CEO Joe Root. If you’re craving indoor activity on a rainy day, you’ll have to imagine the rain. But the clubhouse offers a fitness center, movie theater, bowling alley, bar and secret cigar lounge among other hidden treasures.
The shores are some of the best snorkeling and surfing spots on the island, and our time with the “A-Team” — expert ocean sport guides — set us up with snorkels and paddleboards instructing us to the best spots to see marine life. We didn’t have to stray far before we were swimming alongside schools of bright fish and watching a sea turtle dance around the reef. The next day, our charter on Kohanaiki’s yacht, the Kaikea, let us swim alongside thirty-plus dolphins and gave us front-row seats to a humpback whale show while enjoying breakfast on the boat.
In between water sports, we were able to visit the spa, which offers an extensive menu of treatments. We opted for a couple’s spa treatment in a heavenly private courtyard — the “Botany of Bliss” — which included a soak in a custom-blended herbal outdoor bath for two, followed by individual La’i massages.
The comfort provided by the spa and locker rooms was even unexpectedly rivaled by the golf “comfort stations” located throughout the property. These stations provide an air-conditioned retreat during a round of golf or a tennis match, and are fully stocked with any type of snack or treat imaginable, as well as frozen mai tai machines and cold wine and beer. One may find themselves spending more time here than out on the course.
While luxurious relaxation prevails in any corner of the property, our tour with Joe around Kohanaiki showed us details that one may not notice upon first glance, or on their own explorations. This included the wide-range of art celebrating the Hawaiian heritage and the history of Kohanaiki’s property. The collection includes over 200 art pieces, including prints, paintings and artifacts. “The clubhouse features one of the most robust and extensive collections of authentic, museum-quality art pieces on the island,” says Root. “It was important to give the clubhouse a sense of place through this robust collection of artwork. We have been collecting any of these pieces over the past decade, and are pleased with how they seem to weave in seamlessly with the design of the clubhouse and help to give it the character and historical context that make it so much more than just a building.”
A visit to the wine tasting room revealed a collection of rare vintage wines — 50 years worth of Château Mouton Rothschild — among some of the resident’s wine lockers, which are located throughout the property, especially around the eating spots. Residents can have a bottle of wine handy at any given moment. Kohanaiki has made it a priority to bring wine to their residents, a drink not as common on an island location due to costs of importation. While we were visiting, we attended a beachside wine dinner collaboration between Kohanaiki and Kosta Browne Winery, from California. Enjoyed with other members, the four-course meal featured pairings with 2013 and 2014 Russian River Valley Pinor Noirs (and others) alongside a delicious, delicate menu including crispy seared snapper and a dish of duck breast, confit and Colorado lamb. For dessert, it was a Tahitian vanilla bean crème brûlée enjoyed with a remarkable 40-year-old Tawny Port.
“Our membership is the best part of Kohanaiki,” says Root. “We have attracted an incredible group of well-traveled, sophisticated and successful people who have chosen Kohanaiki as their place to disconnect and just have fun with their friends and family.” With a $150,000 entrance fee and $25,000 annual membership fee, Kohanaiki is at the forefront of full-service luxurious living.
“In most cases these homes are our members second or even third homes. We try and make multiple home-ownership as easy as possible with our residential services program,” says General Manager George Punoose. “We take care of your entire pre-arrival, stay and post-departure experience by attending to all aspects of your home — housekeeping, landscaping, pool care and even grocery shopping.” Our visit to Kohanaiki was a testament to this service — upon our arrival, the fridge and pantry were fully stocked with over a week’s worth of groceries, the home was lit up and an iPad was connected to a sound system playing the ideal relaxing vacation music you’d want to hear upon arriving in paradise.
Just some of the many residential options at Kohanaiki.
The property puts being social and incorporating family as primary ideals for their membership. “We are a family friendly resort and we’ve attracted families small and large, with parents and grandparents seeing this place as something their family will enjoy for generations,” says Root. “Kohanaiki uses vertical memberships that enable siblings, children and grandparents to be full members of the club. Whatever we can do to make it easier for families to come together is a good thing.”
The philosophies of Kohanaiki, instituted by a stellar team, have been reciprocated by the public. Kohanaiki is one of the hottest new luxury residential spots to own property on, not only on Hawaii, but anywhere — and they have the celebrity clientele and sales to prove it. “The recent grand opening of the new clubhouse was a key milestone validating Kohanaiki as the premier private, gated community in the Hawaiian Islands, resulting in record-breaking sales of over $60 million over the past 60 days,” says Lynch.
“Our members are a sophisticated set that have traveled and experienced the finest things in life,” says Punoose. “Our goal here is to still exceed their high expectations.” Here, at Kohanaiki, attention to detail is not sufficient. Instead, a staff that masters the details awaits Kohanaiki’s fortunate members who retreat in this otherworldly community.
Kohanaiki offers two ownership options: custom homesites where you can purchase a plot of land and build your own home, or choose a home from a full-range of turnkey and fully furnished developer-built homes in various sizes, styles and configurations. Kohanaiki also offers fee-simple real estate ownership. Fee-simple means that the real estate is owned forever in perpetuity and can be passed down from generation to generation. Less than 5% of all the land in the Hawaiian Islands is available for fee simple ownership, therefore, Kohanaiki represents a rare opportunity for families to own in a world-class oceanfront community here in the islands and build long-term legacy wealth.
At 67,000 square feet, the clubhouse is one of the largest in the world
Kohanaiki, the first luxury development on the Kona Coast in nearly a decade, has finished construction on its exquisite new clubhouse and spa, raising the bar for private residential communities across the globe. Incorporating the finest features and finishes, including more than eleven miles of cedar decking throughout, the clubhouse boasts world-class amenities and unexpected extras including a James Bond-style cigar lounge with a poker table and scotch bar hidden behind a secret door, a museum-worthy collection of more than 200 artworks and artifacts, a private brewery, a four-lane bowling alley, as well as a holistic spa designed by the leader in modern spa design, Tracy Lee.
“Our members are a well-traveled and sophisticated set with the world at their fingertips, so we were challenged to create a clubhouse that was larger-than-life and incorporates clever details to surpass anything done before at a private residential community,” said General Manager of Kohanaiki, George Punoose. “We designed the clubhouse to be the heartbeat of the community. I’ve always said that the best part of Kohanaiki is the people, and this clubhouse will play a big role in bringing all of our members together under one roof to enjoy each other and our incredible location.”
Kohanaiki’s young, family-oriented membership drove the development team to create a fun, relaxed environment for all ages to enjoy. The 21-seat movie theater and four-lane bowling alley were crafted with the latest technology and design in mind, and are complemented by an assortment of snacks, candies and drinks. Kids will find endless entertainment options with video game rooms, shuffleboard, pool tables and the K-Kids Children’s Center, while their parents can host events in one of two private dining rooms, sip from the rare wine collection in the tasting room, or enjoy a game of poker in the cigar lounge behind a secret door with a modern speakeasy feel.
Tracy Lee—owner of TLee Spas and designer of many of Auberge Resorts’ signature spas—created treatments inspired by two words: “Aloha Aina,” or “the love of the land.” Reflecting the unique philosophy and teachings of native Hawaiian healers, the menu features locally sourced botanical ingredients and reflects ancient healing traditions of the island. The Spa features four freestanding treatment rooms, including one for couples and one specifically for skincare, all of which will boast outdoor showers and soak tubs. A salon for nails, makeup and hair pampers members, while the 25-meter pool, yoga lawn and advanced training equipment and studios keep them active. Kohanaiki aims to maintain harmony of the mental, emotional and spiritual self, focusing on the preventative health of members so they may live a fully engaged, vibrant life.
Known for its focus on sourcing the finest ingredients from across the world, and oftentimes from its own organic community farm, Kohanaiki is expanding its food and beverage offerings with the debut of Kōnane, a sophisticated 2,261 square-foot, 120-seat Chop House and Sushi Bar by Executive Chef Patrick Heymann. Located on the top floor of the clubhouse, each table overlooks the event lawn and offers the best ocean and sunset views on the island.
Downstairs, brewmaster Garratt Fitts has worked with Kohanaiki to create signature beers in the 300-square-foot brewery, where new concoctions are made daily and members can taste seasonal flavors. For members who prefer wine, the clubhouse has reserved space for prized bottles, with wine storage lockers lining the hallways of the lower level. There is also 50 years of Chateau Mouton Rothschild in the clubhouse wine room, where members can host private tastings among some of the most coveted wines in the world.
The clubhouse was designed by renowned architect Shay Zak of Zak Architecture, who is known for his ability to capture the spirit of the sites where he works while honoring the principles that make good design. The clubhouse design represents a modern Hawaiian aesthetic. Combined with the rare collection of Hawaiian literature found in the clubhouse, ancient remedies in the spa and an impressive gallery of historic art pieces and artifacts, members will be consistently reminded of the land’s rich history and culture dating back hundreds of years.
Kohanaiki’s clubhouse is now open to members and their guests. Membership is associated with purchasing real estate at Kohanaiki, with homes ranging from $3 million to over $22 million. To find out more, click here.