Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
LANAʻI'S BILLIONAIRE OWNER
Decades of sleepy seclusion for Lanaʻi were interrupted in 2012 when the fab-
ulously wealthy co-founder of Oracle Software, Larry Ellison, bought out the is-
land's long-time owner Castle & Cooke (which once ran the ubiquitous pineapple
plantations under the Dole name).
It's the biggest change to the island since Castle & Cooke stopped farming and
built the Four Seasons resorts in the early 1990s. That the new owner is Ellison, a
legendary hard-driving Silicon Valley entrepreneur known for, among other dra-
matics, winning the America's Cup yacht race in 2010, only added to the interest.
For his estimated $600 million purchase price, Ellison got 98% of Lanaʻi (the
rest is private homes or government land) and a bevy of businesses, such as the
resorts. Given that the island has struggled economically since the glory days of
pineapples, Ellison's potential plans for his trophy are generating intense interest.
Locals have noted an uptick in the number of private jets parked at the airport
and he has docked a racing yacht in the small harbor at times. He also has gone
about remodeling the resorts to reflect his design ethos (white, lots of white) and
he's snapped up a few local businesses such as the town's main supermarket (it
promptly instituted a dress code, eg no bare feet). Ellison also made efforts to
show he was going to spruce up the somewhat dilapidated island by literally mend-
ing fences and making gestures such as reopening the community pool which
David Murdock, the much-unloved billionaire head of Castle & Cooke, had closed to
save money.
Meanwhile after a half year of ownership, Ellison began making clear some of his
plans for the island. The airport will get a second runway to better accommodate
large business jets, a reverse osmosis plant will supply water to a revitalized local
farming community (meaning that for the first time in more than 20 years pine-
apple served on the pineapple island may actually have been grown there) and a
new solar farm will help make the island energy independent. Besides continuing
renovations of the existing Four Seasons resorts, a new low-rise luxury resort will
be built on the sight of the old Club Lanaʻi at lovely Halepalaoa Beach. Also in the
works are improvements to the medical and education infrastructure. It's a heady
time indeed on Lanaʻi.
There's one echo of the old owners, however, that still needs resolution: Murdock
holds an option to build an enormous wind farm that would supply electricity to
Oʻahu and likely be sited atop - and destroy - the Garden of the Gods.
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