Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa talks with Ellison's representatives about Lanai's future

There are still more questions than answers when it comes to what Lanai?s new owner, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, wants to do with the Pineapple Isle.

But Maui County Mayor Alan Arakawa got some glimpses this week when he met with Ellison's representatives and people from Castle & Cooke in a closed-door meeting.

Ellison himself didn?t attend the hour-long meeting on Maui, but his representatives told Arakawa that Ellison expect to be losing some money in the interim on the island's resort operations but he plans to invest more money into the upscale Four Seasons properties.

?Certainly they will be expanding the hotel operations and may need more people,? Arakawa told PBN.

The Ellison crew told Arakawa that they will try to make some money off the transaction, which has an estimated cost of more than $500 million. The actual sale price of the island has not been disclosed.

?It was a very friendly meeting [that] gave the indication [that] they want to work with us and they community of Lanai,? Arakawa said. ?So as far as my input and feel, they?re going to try and do the best they can.?

Arakawa says that there?s no specific date set for another meeting, although his camp will be working with Ellison?s people very closely in the coming months.

Duane Shimogawa covers energy, real estate and economic development for Pacific Business News.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/vertical_61/~3/_ELCTRpvM9k/maui-mayor-alan-arakawa-talks-with.html

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