HILO, Hawaii (AP) - Kau farmers are anxious over the pending sale of lands where they’ve worked to cultivate some of world’s best coffee.
Rusty’s Hawaiian owner Lorie Obra told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald (https://bit.ly/1gfgJrN ) the uncertainty has her worried. Her lease is up next month, she said.
Obra started the coffee farm with her late husband Rusty about 15 years ago. The farm on 12 acres of leased land made the Roasters Guild’s top 10 list in a 2012 global competition.
Coffee farms cover 300 acres of the 5,880 acres on the market, said California-based real estate firm Kennedy Wilson, which is handling the sale.
The coffee lands were once part of the Kau Sugar Company. They’ve been leased to farmers, including former plantation workers, in recent years.
The property’s previous owner, WWK Hawaii Holdings, planned to use the land for high-end homes on large lots. But it ran into trouble during the recession. Its lender, Lehman Brothers, bought the land at a foreclosure auction in June.
Lehman Brothers wants to sell all the acres together, said Joel LaPinta, vice president at Kennedy Wilson. Lehman rejected a request by Hawaii County to disconnect the coffee lands from the bulk sale, LaPinta said.
LaPinta last week declined to say how many bids were submitted or when a decision might be made.
“We got a number of offers,” he said. “We’re going back and forth with some right now.”
Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi wrote Kennedy Wilson in September saying the county’s main concern is the welfare and future of the coffee farmers.
“Our Kau coffee farms have done a wonderful job through sheer hard work creating a world-class coffee,” Kenoi told the Tribune-Herald.
He plans to speak with whomever buys the property.
Francis and Trinidad Marques said they are not taking any chances.
The former plantation workers, who started Alii Hawaiian Hula Hands in 1996 after the last sugar harvest, have started to look for another farm site because of the uncertainty.
“We took out another 10 acres someplace else to be proactive,” Trinidad Marques said. “I know the quality of the coffee isn’t going to be as great in that other area.”
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Information from: Hawaii Tribune-Herald, https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/
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