Three homes being built for total of $25M at Hawaii’s Kukio resort — and here’s who owns them

Building permits worth a total of nearly $25 million were recently issued for three new homes in the exclusive Kukio subdivision near the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai on Hawaii’s Big Island, according to PBN Business Leads research.

The largest permit, $12 million, was issued for an oceanfront 2-acre parcel in Kukio’s Kaupulehu subdivision owned by KFRZ Kona LLC, whose members include San Francisco-based real estate mogul Ron Zeff, according to Hawaii business registration and county tax records. KFRZ Kona LLC paid $10 million for the property in July 2015 and also purchased a 1-acre lot across the street for $1.5 million in September, according to data from the Hawaii Bureau of Conveyances.

Zeff is the founder and CEO of Carmel Partners, which sold a portfolio of rental properties on Oahu two years ago for $300 million to Douglas Emmett and Rockpoint Group, the largest multifamily sale in Hawaii in 2014.

Kailua-Kona-based Maryl Construction Inc. is the contractor on the KFRZ Kona project, which consists of eight detached structures with a total of 10 bedrooms, 10 full bathrooms, two half baths and a one-bedroom caretaker hale, or house, according to the permit filed with the Hawaii County Planning Department.

The second large permit issued was for $10 million for new house on a 2-acre parcel in Kukio. The parcel is owned by SMP Kukio LLC, whose member is Andrew Cooper, managing partner of New York wealth management firm AJ Wealth. SMP Kukio paid $1.55 million for the land in January 2015, according to tax records.

The third permit was a $2.5 million project in the Maniniowali section of Kukio, a five-bedroom, five-bath single-family residence. The 0.6-acre lot is owned by Lot 11 Kukio LLC, whose member, Gregg Todd, is president of luxury homebuilder GM Construction in Kailua-Kona, which has several Kukio homes in its portfolio.

To see more building permits, along with new business registrations, real estate transactions and court filings, the print edition of Pacific Business News, published every Friday.