The run-up on prices in Hawaii continued this week when an oceanfront property on the Big Island sold for $33.75 million — a record for the region.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting the vacant 3.7-acre plot in the gated neighborhood of Kaupulehu comes with plans for an 18,600-square-foot mansion designed by Paul McClean that features a detached guesthouse and a pool.
The property was purchased by an LLC connected to Bay Area investor John Warren and his wife, Stephanie Warren, according to the report, and the seller is a firm tied to commercial real-estate developer Carl Panattoni, the founder of Panattoni Development.
Listing agent Carrie Nicholson of Hawai’i Life told the newspaper Panattoni had purchased the three contiguous lots on the Island’s west coast for a total of $24.5 million between 2006 and 2007. After hiring the California-based architect McClean to design a home for him there, he later decided to spend more time at his home in Florida.
Or, it just could be a good time to sell, as Hawaii is becoming the go-to place for billionaires to settle down.
Wall Street and Tech icons including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, eBay originator Pierre Omidyar, Salesforce architect Marc Benioff, Starbucks honcho Howard Schultz, Amazon rocketman Jeff Bezos and venture capitalist Peter Theil are now all full-time residents of the Aloha State — where sales of properties costing $10 million or more have increased sixfold in the last year.
The big moves by the high rollers have come despite the fact the local government in the 50th state isn’t offering any financial incentives for such a move — relying instead on the islands’ natural beauty, great year-round weather and distance from the mainland, which lends a certain level of privacy to those who live there.
The previous sales record for the state’s eponymous Big Island was a $30 million deal for a much larger portion of land — 130 acres — back in 2006, according to the report.
[Wall Street Journal] — Vince DiMiceli