South Front Street
Maui Developers Mum
On Hotel Plans

Maui Developers

Developers of a proposed new hotel on south Front Street in Lahaina are maintaining a discreet silence on their plans for the project.

McNeil Construction Co. of Los Angeles has plans for a six-story hotel on a parcel of more than three acres situated on the ocean side of Front Street, across from the foot of Shaw Street. The land is on the waterfront just south of the Lahaina armory.

The preliminary plans for the hotel and an adjoining Whalers Market Place were approved more that a year ago by the County Planning Commission and the Maui Historic Commission.

The Market Place would be located within a county historic district. The hotel itself would be just outside the historic district, on land zoned for hotel use.

Bruce W. McNeil, president of McNeil Construction, in a recent letter to the Sun said,

"I must advise that we do not wish any publicity on this project until we have made definite arrangements to procede, which we hope will be in the near furture."

If built as planned, the six-story hotel would be the tallest building in the central Lahaina area.

NcNeil took over the project after hotel plans by an earlier developer ran into trouble.

The Hale Nani Corp. originally had intended to build two 12-story hotel towers on the property. The project ran into a number of difficulities, including disagreements with the County Planning Dept. and with local residents who objected to the height of the project.

A Hale Nani official, speaking at a 1968 meeting of the Maui Planning Commission, was quoted as saying that the proposed 12-story waterfront hotel "is being done in tremendous good taste. It is going to be a beautiful hotel."