Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc. (ML&P, ) is a land holding and operating company founded in 1909 and based in
Kapalua, Hawaii
Kapalua is a census-designated place (CDP) in Maui County, Hawaii, United States. A resort development by the Maui Land & Pineapple Company extends inland from Kapalua Bay and Honolua Bay. The population was 495 at the 2020 census.
Geograph ...
, United States. It owns approximately on the island of Maui. It develops, sells, and manages residential, resort, commercial and industrial real estate; and operates retail, golf and utility operations at the
Kapalua Resort
Kapalua Resort is a golf and beach resort in Kapalua, Hawaii on the northwest shore of the island of Maui near Lahaina, Hawaii. It is owned by Maui Land & Pineapple Company.
Description
Surrounded by from the verdant mountain ridges and summi ...
. ML&P also owns and manages the
Puu Kukui Watershed Preserve, one of the largest private
nature preserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...
s in the state of
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
. It formerly grew pineapples.
Organization
Maui Land & Pineapple Company was structured into three operating segments, but re-organized into two at the end of 2009 (with the closure of the pineapple business). The Resort segment includes the operation of the golf and vacation resort community,
Kapalua Resort
Kapalua Resort is a golf and beach resort in Kapalua, Hawaii on the northwest shore of the island of Maui near Lahaina, Hawaii. It is owned by Maui Land & Pineapple Company.
Description
Surrounded by from the verdant mountain ridges and summi ...
, and is managed through the Kapalua Land Company. The Community Development segment involves management of all the company's real estate development, construction, entitlements, sales and leasing activities as well as the operation of Kapalua Realty, a general brokerage real estate company, located in Kapalua Resort.
Kapalua Land Company
Kapalua Land Company, Ltd. (KLC) operates the
Kapalua Resort
Kapalua Resort is a golf and beach resort in Kapalua, Hawaii on the northwest shore of the island of Maui near Lahaina, Hawaii. It is owned by Maui Land & Pineapple Company.
Description
Surrounded by from the verdant mountain ridges and summi ...
of , along with the development and sale of real estate on the resort. KLC was established in 1975 and manages resort holdings of over 800 residences, homesites and condominiums, golf courses, tennis courts, a spa, retail and pro shops. Kapalua Resort hosts the
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...
’s season-opening Hyundai Tournament every January.
Real estate
The Community Development division manages and develops ML&P’s land holdings. This includes the company’s real estate development, construction, entitlements, sales and leasing activities as well as the operation of Kapalua Realty and Kapalua Water Company, a Public Utilities Commission-regulated water system and sewage transmission operations that services Kapalua Resort in West Maui.
ML&P’s projects are focused on the
luxury real estate
Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...
market within the Kapalua Resort. This includes completed projects of Honolua Village Center, Kapalua Coastal Trail, Kapalua Spa and The Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences at Kapalua Bay. The Community Development division is also planning the affordable and moderately priced residential and mixed use communities of Pulelehua in West Maui and the expansion of
Haliimaile
Haliimaile ( haw, Hāliimaile) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Maui County, Hawaii, United States. The population was 1,074 at the 2020 census.
Geography
Haliimaile is located at (20.875211, -156.342340).
According to the United States ...
in the "Upcountry" area of Maui known as
Kula.
Maui Pineapple Company
Maui Pineapple Company, Ltd. (MPC) was the United States' largest grower of Hawaiian
pineapples
The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centurie ...
. MPC began in 1909 as the Keahua Ranch Company, Ltd, and became the Maui Pineapple Company in 1932 . MPC cultivated and processed approximately of a hybrid variety of pineapple known as "Maui Gold." It operated Kapalua Farms, located near Kapalua Resort, which cultivated Kapalua Gold and Kapalua Emerald organic pineapples and Kapalua Natural transitional pineapples. Kapalua Farms operated Pineapple Farm Tours in West Maui and managed an organic diversified farming operation.
The Maui Pineapple Company closed in 2009. The Hali‘imaile Pineapple Company, a locally owned and operated successor to the Maui Pineapple Company, continues cultivation of 1,350 acres on the slopes of Haleakala.
The company owned a multi-purpose processing facility in
Kahului, Maui, where its fresh fruit packing and processing operations were consolidated. The facility also provided refrigerated storage, freight consolidation and warehousing to the greater Maui farming and agricultural community. Maui Pineapple Company's headquarters were located in
Kahului, Maui with a satellite division, Kapalua Farms, located near
Kapalua Resort
Kapalua Resort is a golf and beach resort in Kapalua, Hawaii on the northwest shore of the island of Maui near Lahaina, Hawaii. It is owned by Maui Land & Pineapple Company.
Description
Surrounded by from the verdant mountain ridges and summi ...
, which was also owned by its parent company.
Pineapple Varieties
The "Maui Gold" variety was introduced to the market by MPC in 2005. It is naturally sweet with a low acid content. Maui Gold is sold in Hawaii and the USA mainland, in both the West Coast and Midwest markets. Maui Gold Organic reached the market in melons.
Hawaiian pineapple agriculture
Maui Pineapple Company used field rotation,
cover crop
In agriculture, cover crops are plants that are planted to cover the soil rather than for the purpose of being harvested. Cover crops manage soil erosion, soil fertility, soil quality, water, weeds, pests, diseases, biodiversity and wildlife i ...
, and
fallow
Fallow is a farming technique in which arable land is left without sowing for one or more vegetative cycles. The goal of fallowing is to allow the land to recover and store organic matter while retaining moisture and disrupting pest life cycl ...
time to manage sustainable agriculture. MPC fields were being evaluated for diversified crops, including
taro
Taro () (''Colocasia esculenta)'' is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in Africa ...
and other tropical crops. The company used an
Integrated Pest Management
Integrated pest management (IPM), also known as integrated pest control (IPC) is a broad-based approach that integrates both chemical and non-chemical practices for economic control of pests. IPM aims to suppress pest populations below the econ ...
(IPM) system to reduce pesticides.
History
Company history started in 1903 with
Henry Perrine Baldwin
Henry Perrine Baldwin (August 29, 1842 – July 8, 1911) was a businessman and politician on Maui in the Hawaiian Islands. He supervised the construction of the East Maui Irrigation System and co-founded Alexander & Baldwin, one of the " Big Fiv ...
and
David Dwight Baldwin
David Dwight Baldwin (November 26, 1831 – June 16, 1912) was a businessman, educator, and biologist on Maui in the Hawaiian islands. Within biology he is known for his contributions to the study of Hawaiian land snails, part of malacology.
...
, sons of medical missionary
Rev. Dwight Baldwin. The family acquired land in East and West Maui, and over the next 100 years, they began ranching and their primary business of cultivating pineapples. The family expanded their land holdings, owning of land on Maui island by 1933.
In 1962, it merged with Baldwin Packers. In 1969, Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc. was created by combining
Alexander & Baldwin
Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. is an American company that was once part of the Big Five companies in territorial Hawaii. The company currently operates businesses in real estate, land operations, and materials and construction. It was also the last ...
and J. Walter Cameron family holdings and went public, the Maui Pineapple Company, Ltd. being a subsidiary devoted to agricultural operations. Colin Campbell Cameron, a fifth-generation descendant of the Baldwin family, became its first president and CEO until his death in 1992.
Harry Weinberg Harry Weinberg (1908–1990) was an American billionaire businessman who founded ''The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Inc.'', a private charitable foundation, with over $2 billion in assets in 2018 and headquartered in Owings Mills, Marylan ...
became an investor, but the Cameron family prevented him from getting a board seat.
In 1975 ML&P incorporated Kapalua Land Company, Ltd. as its subsidiary dedicated to resort development. Maui Pineapple Company, Ltd. was established as its subsidiary devoted to pineapple and other agricultural operations. In 1975 the company opened its first
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
course. Two other golf courses, homes, luxury condos, and another hotel (The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua) followed over the next two decades. In 1978, ML&P dedicated of coastal land to establish the Honolua-Mokule'ia Marine Life Conservation District. In 1988, ML&P committed of its West Maui land, including
Puu Kukui
Puu or Pu'u is a Hawaiian word for any protuberance, from a pimple to a hill, and can refer to:
* Puu Kukui, mountain peak in Hawaii
* Pu'u Huluhulu (Hawaii Route 200)
* Pu'u 'Ō'ō (Puu Oo), volcanic cone in Hawaii
* Setsuna Meioh (Sailor Pluto), ...
, the summit of the West Maui mountain range, to conservation. This area eventually became the Puu Kukui Watershed Preserve, one of the largest private nature preserves in Hawaii.
In 1989 hundreds of remains of
ancient Hawaii
Ancient Hawaii is the period of Hawaiian history preceding the unification in 1810 of the Kingdom of Hawaii by Kamehameha the Great. Traditionally, researchers estimated the first settlement of the Hawaiian islands as having occurred sporadicall ...
ans were discovered when excavating for a new hotel.
Colin Cameron's son Richard Cameron (born circa 1955) served as executive and chairman when the pineapple cannery (the last in the United States) shut down, and only fresh fruit was marketed.
When Weinberg died and the
Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation Harry Weinberg (1908–1990) was an American billionaire businessman who founded ''The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Inc.'', a private charitable foundation, with over $2 billion in assets in 2018 and headquartered in Owings Mills, Maryla ...
inherited his stock shares, lawyer Daniel H. Case arranged a sale of the shares to keep the company intact.
Gary L. Gifford announced he would resign May 27, 2003, and was temporarily replaced by Donald Young. A shopping center in
Kahului
Kahului () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Maui County in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It hosts the county's main airport (Kahului Airport), deep-draft harbor, light industrial areas, and commercial shopping centers. The population was 26,337 ...
was sold later that year.
Former
AOL
AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo (2017 ...
executive
Steve Case (Daniel Case's son) became an investor in 1999 buying the former Weinberg stake. Richard Cameron resigned as chairman, and stepped down as director in 2005.
Cole started an ambitious expansion program for the resort.
The original Kapalua Bay Hotel was torn down in 2006, and replaced by a "club" with memberships reportedly sold for $375,000.
After rising fuel costs, a
real estate price drop, and reduced tourism caused losses, layoffs were announced in 2008.
Case joined the board in 2008 and Cole left at the end of that year.
On December 31, 2009, MPC ceased pineapple operations after 97 years. The move briefly put Maui out of the pineapple business, and left only a small pineapple operation run by
Dole Food Company
Dole plc (previously named Dole Food Company, Standard Fruit Company) is an Irish agricultural multinational corporation headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. The company is among the world's largest producers of fruit and vegetables, operating wit ...
on
Oahu
Oahu () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...
growing one of Hawaii's signature crops. A group of former Maui Pineapple Company executives and local investors assumed pineapple operations on January 1, 2010. The new company, Haliimaile Pineapple Company, Ltd. (HPC), continued to grow and market fresh pineapple under the Maui Gold Brand to the Hawaii market. HPC purchased and licensed key assets, and leased farm land, equipment, and buildings from ML&P.
The new company kept 65 of the old employees.
The Kapalua Farms organic pineapple operation was taken over by Ulupono Sustainable Agriculture Development, backed by investor
Pierre Omidyar
Pierre Morad Omidyar (born Parviz Morad Omidyar, June 21, 1967) is a French-born Iranian-American billionaire. A technology entrepreneur, software engineer, and philanthropist, he is the founder of eBay, where he served as chairman from 199 ...
in early 2010.
In July and August 2010 Case increased his holdings in the company to over 60%, as the company retired some debt.
In 2009 the Plantation golf course at Kapalua was sold to TY Management Corporation, and in September 2010 the Kapalua Bay course was sold to the same investors.
Family tree
References
External links
Maui Land & Pineapple official web siteMaui Pineapple official web siteKapalua Resort Official SiteKapalua Farms Official SiteML&P Google Finance PageML&P Yahoo Finance Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maui Land and Pineapple Company
American landowners
Companies based in Hawaii
Maui
Pineapple production
Agriculture in Hawaii
American companies established in 1903
Agriculture companies established in 1903
1903 establishments in Hawaii
Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
Food and drink companies established in 1909