HILO, Hawai‘i- The future of Punaluʻu, one of the most biologically rich and culturally revered places in Kaʻū, is now uncertain, but a proposed resort development that threatened its integrity may be off the table for good.

A Hawai‘i circuit court has approved an order of foreclosure against developer Black Sand Beach, LLC, after the company defaulted on a $3.4 million mortgage. The 147-acre property is now headed for public auction, pausing plans for a sprawling luxury development that faced sustained public opposition.

The developer’s proposed “Punaluʻu Village” project included 225 residential and vacation rental units, a commercial center and golf course renovations — all located just inland of Punaluʻu Bay, where endangered hawksbill and green sea turtles feed and nest. The area is home to anchialine ponds, limu beds, freshwater springs and numerous Native Hawaiian cultural sites, including iwi kūpuna and heiau, making it both an ecological treasure and a sacred landscape. The land is in the coastal zone management area where development is legally regulated to protect the coastal environment, public access and community interests.

“This foreclosure is a much-needed reprieve for Punaluʻu and the people of Kaʻū,” said Maxx Phillips, Hawai‘i and Pacific Islands director and staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “This place is sacred. It holds deep cultural meaning, irreplaceable ecosystems and fragile species found nowhere else on Earth. It was never appropriate for large-scale development. The people of Kaʻū have spoken loudly and clearly – they want this place protected, not paved. We’re proud to stand with the community to help make that vision a reality.”

The Windward Planning Commission first heard the developer’s special management area permit application in March 2024, triggering strong community testimony in opposition. In May 2024, after additional rounds of public outcry, the commission granted standing to the Center for Biological Diversity, represented by its in-house counsel and Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, and ʻIewe Hānau O Ka ʻĀina to intervene in a contested case hearing.

The legal standard for approving a Special Management Area Use Permit for a major development of the proposed scale is whether the proposed development is “consistent with the objectives, policies, and guidelines” of the federal Coastal Zone Management Act. Any permit for development in Hawai’i also requires the state to analyze the impact on Native Hawaiian traditional and customary practices, which are protected under the Hawaiʻi Constitution.

Community and cultural practice intervenors raised serious concerns about the developer’s failure to adequately study the project’s cultural and environmental impacts, plan for the protection of sensitive resources or address the deteriorating wastewater system’s threat to coastal water quality. However, the county never moved forward with the hearing. In the meantime, the developer defaulted on its mortgage, effectively ending the permitting process for Black Sand Beach, LLC.

“What we want here in Ka‘ū is to continue to have access to the places that grow who we are physically and spiritually,” said Nohea Kaʻawa of ʻIewe Hānau O Ka ʻĀina. “‘Āina, just like our Kūpuna, sustains us and gives us life. It is our kuleana to maintain a reciprocal relationship with our environment for our survival. We come hard in the fight to protect Ka‘ū and we will continue to do so so that our Keiki and generations to come can live simple and free of threats to our way of life.”

“This is a victory rooted in the voices of community members and cultural practitioners who showed up, time and again, to speak for the land and waters of Punaluʻu,” said Ashley Obrey, staff attorney at the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation. “While this foreclosure halts the current project, we remain vigilant. This land deserves a future shaped by community vision, grounded in mālama ʻāina, and conforming to the environmental and cultural practice protections Hawai‘i law requires.”

The Center for Biological Diversity and Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation continue to work in partnership to ensure any future activity at Punaluʻu respects the rights of lāhui, honors cultural connections and protects fragile ecosystems and the species that depend on them for generations to come.

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The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.8 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Since 1974, the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation has served the lāhui as a nonprofit legal services provider and the only law firm in the world wholly dedicated to Native Hawaiian rights.

The press may contact these organizations regarding this matter using the following information:

Maxx Phillips, Center for Biological Diversity, (808) 284-0007, mphillips@biologicaldiversity.org
Nohea Kaʻawa, ʻIewe Hānau O Ka ʻĀina, (808) 333-7497, kaawa.nohea@gmail.com
Ashley Obrey, Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, (808) 521-2302, info@nhlchi.org