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Hotel-Condos /
01/01/2005
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| [Real Estate] |
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| Residential enclaves within resorts lure second home buyers to Hawaii. |
| text by: |
Kim Fredericks |
| photos by: |
John Russel |
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From the moment you slip behind the gate and into the elegant courtyard framed
with Singapore plumeria, giant white birds of paradise and red ginger, you
understand why Ken Heller felt instantly at ease.
The intoxicating scent
sets the stage. Step up to the door, and you are greeted by a sprawling view of
the Pacific Ocean. The wide glass entry doors open to a spacious living room
with a disappearing back wall. This design allows indoor space to flow
seamlessly out to the lanai and into an infinity pool that appears to spill over
the edge into the sea. “When I walked into this house, I felt an instant sense
of peace,” Heller says.
Pauoa Beach is a collection of 46 homesites and
custom homes tucked between the Mauna Lani and Fairmont Orchid hotels on the Big
Island’s Kohala Coast. Residents enjoy hotel and golf privileges. (Click image to enlarge)
The 48-year-old Los Angeles businessman had been
vacationing in Hawaii for nearly 25 years. Most recently, he and his partner
Patti Magdalin had become fond of Maui, particularly its resort community,
Wailea. “We were spending a lot of time at the Four Seasons and stumbled upon
the Maluhia at Wailea,” he says. “Maluhia afforded us the ultimate in second
home ownership—exceptional living, security, peace of mind and full-time
concierge service,” Heller says. It also delivered what many upscale second home
buyers have discovered they cannot live without—the resort
connection.
Heller’s 6,000-square-foot home, called Hale Ola, the Hawaiian
phrase for “house of life,” is one of just 14 in the private gated community.
Each of Maluhia’s homes is built in collaboration with an architect and a
designer and treated like a work of art. Each home receives a Hawaiian name and
is designed around a fictitious buyer. Heller’s home, for example, was created
for a family that traveled, collected art and loved music. The home was
furnished with a baby grand piano, artwork from contemporary Chinese artists and
pottery salvaged from a shipwreck in the South China Seas. Bookshelves were
stocked with classics, beds were covered with handcrafted silk bedding, even
bath slippers were placed beside the door that leads to an outdoor
Balinese-style garden. While Heller was not planning to purchase a furnished
home, he was impressed with the effort that went into the design. “The
architects and designers created an environment that works. It was like nothing
we had ever seen before,” he says.
Maluhia is the only enclave of
single-family oceanfront homes in Wailea, yet it is technically a condominium
complex. By keeping it communal rather than being subdivided, Maluhia was able
to stay low key and avoid being subjected to county standards, which would have
meant double-wide roads, brightly lit street lamps and large setbacks. Once
inside, the development seems off the beaten track, but it is at the core of
Wailea and within easy reach of three golf courses, five top hotels and spas, a
tennis stadium, high-end shopping and restaurants. Mokapu, one of Wailea’s five
white-sand beaches, is just steps from the community’s private beach
club.
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