What Starwood wants to build on Princeville’s protected open space, what lies beneath it, and what the courts have said.
In their own words: all 27 holes
Asked at trial whether Starwood wanted soil testing across all 27 holes “because you were thinking of either the potential development or sale of all 27 holes”:
“That’s correct.”
“The Mull/White litigation strategy foolishly jeopardizes risk of development on all 27 holes.”
Sources: trial testimony of Jason Cruce (June 25, 2025); James Raved on Nextdoor (July 2, 2026, screenshot on file). What “all 27 holes” means ↓
Beneath the Woods Course lies a burial ground from the 1917 anthrax outbreak. After a full trial in 2025, the court found that “there are anthrax burial sites on the Woods Course.”
“Impossible to burn bodies, dying too quickly. Am burying and liming.”Telegram from Hanalei signed “Glaisyer,” April 13, 1917
Anthrax spores can survive in soil “for decades, even hundreds of years,” and lime, like the quicklime used in 1917, helps protect them. Experts on both sides agreed on that. The plaintiffs’ three anthrax experts agreed that the best way to ensure safety is to leave the ground undisturbed, and Starwood’s own medical expert agreed that if anthrax is there, it is best left undisturbed.
Even the State Department of Health, which has said Starwood may do maintenance and emergency repairs under a safety plan, wrote in May 2026: “We agree it is best to assume there might be some level of contamination.”
Sources: Mull & White v. SOF-XI Kauai PV Golf, Fifth Circuit Court, 5CCV-21-0000063, Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law (July 14, 2025) ¶¶84–85, 89–91, 93, 100, 119, 128, 130, 132–133, 190; The Hawaiian Forester and Agriculturist (June 1917); Emmalani Subdivision Public Offering Statement, Reg. No. S-540 (1975, amended 1976), §8(d); Department of Health comments of June 25, 1979, quoted in the State Land Use Commission staff report on SP80-349 (Dec. 9, 1980); trial testimony of Jason Cruce (June 25, 2025); Ka Paʻakai O Ka ʻÄina Analysis prepared for SOF-XI Kauai PV Golf (Dec. 2020), p. 75; Department of Health email of May 14, 2026, filed with Starwood’s motion of July 6, 2026.
“The Mull/White litigation strategy foolishly jeopardizes risk of development on all 27 holes.”
Starwood’s lawyer says he never threatened to develop all 27 holes. But in his own words, all 27 are at risk. In the same post, he wrote that limiting development to the Woods nine, in exchange for an agreement, “would have preserved the Ocean-9 and the Lakes-9.” This is what “all 27 holes” means.
“The Dedication is a declaration restricting the 27-hole golf course in Princeville to ‘golf course and ancillary recreational uses.’” It “will automatically renew for successive five-year periods beginning at 12:00 a.m. on March 1, 2026, unless 75% of the Princeville at Hanalei landowners vote to terminate the Dedication.” “To date, no such vote has occurred.”
“In a nutshell, the Dedication applies to all the parcels of land that presently make up the 27-hole Princeville Makai Golf Club, including the nine-hole Woods Course. The Dedication contains its own time-limited restrictions that lapse next year.”
In other words, Starwood argues on appeal that the protection for all 27 holes ran out in 2026.
“In the event that Starwood is not successful in its pursuit of glamping or other profitable use prior to the expiration of the dedication, the land becomes available for development according Kauai County Zoning.”
“As the owner of the Makai Course, SOF-XI has the right to use and develop the Makai Course in a manner that is consistent with the applicable zoning laws and otherwise permitted by applicable law.”
Asked whether he had wanted soil testing across all 27 holes “because you were thinking of either the potential development or sale of all 27 holes,” Starwood’s Jason Cruce answered: “That’s correct.”
Every fairway on this map is open space that neighbors live beside, look out on and walk along. If Starwood wins its appeal, all of it, not just the Woods, could be opened to development: the views, the walking paths, the wildlife habitat and the fire breaks that run through the heart of Princeville.
Sources: James Raved on Nextdoor (July 2026); Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law (July 14, 2025) ¶¶26, 67, 182; Starwood’s Motion to Amend the Findings or for a New Trial (Aug. 18, 2025), p. 1; Starwood Capital Group and East West Partners, “Glamping in Princeville: Introduction, Plans and Frequently Asked Questions” (May 18, 2021), p. 10; SOF-XI’s Third-Party Complaint (Sept. 7, 2021) ¶29; trial testimony of Jason Cruce (June 25, 2025); Belt, Collins & Associates, Land Development Plans: Planning for Princeville at Hanalei (April 1969), Table 2; CC&Rs Article VIII, Section 2. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
On the bluff beside the 1 Hotel, next to Puʻu Poʻa and above Hanalei Bay, Starwood’s hotel wants to build luxury homes and an event pavilion. In May 2026, four community groups won the right to fight it before the Kauaʻi Planning Commission.
“Two-story six-plex housing units, ranging from 3,000 to 4,500 square feet, a new 4,500-square-foot event pavilion with two ballrooms and ancillary structures, expanded parking and infrastructure,” and redevelopment of the historic Fort Alexander area.
The hotel’s own April 2026 invitation to Association members described “a thoughtfully designed gathering space, along with a limited 1 Homes residential component.” Starwood’s attorney has called it development “adjacent to the hotel on the Pu’uPoa blufftop.”
It would “intensify commercial construction along an actively eroding coastal bluff overlooking Hanalei Bay, with some structures proposed as close as five feet from the cliff edge.”
Opponents are concerned that it would “further degrade coastal resources, worsen the ongoing harms to native seabirds from the resort, impair public scenic view planes, and interfere with Native Hawaiian cultural practices.” Earthjustice notes “more than 25% of all documented seabird take on Kauaʻi occurring at this single resort—far exceeding its authorized take quota.”
In its April 9, 2026 Motion to Amend, the 1 Hotel’s owner asks the Kauaʻi Planning Commission to allow:
The motion itself says the project land is under the PHCA’s covenants. And when the Planning Commission approved the Fort’s preservation plan in 1991, it ruled that “The Fort grounds shall be used only for open space.”
These renderings are from the hotel’s April 9, 2026 Motion to Amend, filed with the Kauaʻi Planning Commission and obtained through a public-records request. Tap a picture to see it larger.
The Kauaʻi Planning Commission granted intervention to four community groups: Mālama Kuaʻāina, the Hanalei-Wainiha-Hāʻena Community Association, Hui Hoʻomalu i Ka ʻĀina and the Conservation Council for Hawaiʻi. They are represented by Earthjustice attorney Elena Bryant, and can now submit evidence and present expert testimony.
“Our coastlines are not sacrifice zones for luxury development.”Caren Diamond, Executive Director, Mālama Kuaʻāina
Sources: Earthjustice, “Community Groups Granted Intervention in Review of Luxury Coastal Development on Kauaʻi’s Historic Hanalei Bay” (May 27, 2026); Kauai Now, “Intervention granted in review of luxury development at Hanalei Bay” (May 28, 2026); 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay community invitation (April 2026); James Raved on Nextdoor (July 2026); Applicant’s Motion to Amend Master Permit and Renovation Permit (1 Homes Project), SOF-XI Kauai PV Hotel, L.P., Kauaʻi Planning Commission (April 9, 2026), §§A–D, 2.1b, 2.2g, 3.1, 3.2 and 6.3, Exhibit D-10 (Planning Commission, Jan. 14, 1991) and Exhibit E-2 (renderings by Lake|Flato, June 6, 2025), obtained through a public-records request.
Two Princeville homeowners, Lorraine Mull and Frances White, took Starwood to court in 2021, and won. Every owner in Princeville owes them thanks. Their group, Save Open Space Hui, shares the court filings and the full story at SOSHui.org ↗.
The whole story, from 1971 to today: SOS Hui’s history → · Visit SOSHui.org ↗
Sources: Mull & White v. SOF-XI Kauai PV Golf, Fifth Circuit Court, 5CCV-21-0000063: Complaint (June 24, 2021); Declaration of Sam George (July 15, 2021); Order Denying Motion to Dismiss (May 2, 2022); Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law on summary judgment (Aug. 2, 2023) ¶¶22–23, 30; First Amended Complaint (Oct. 13, 2023); Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law (July 14, 2025); Judgment (Aug. 6, 2025) ¶3; hearing of May 19, 2026, and Starwood’s motion of July 6, 2026. Hawaiʻi Supreme Court, SCPW-22-0000526, orders of Oct. 14, 2022. Intermediate Court of Appeals, CAAP-25-0000609. Dedication of Golf Course Property (May 12, 1972), Schedule A.
Starwood has spent the years since it bought the golf course trying one development idea after another on Princeville’s open space.
“50 luxury glamping tents” over holes 1–3 of the Woods Course. Starwood withdrew the plan in December 2021, the day the County banned campgrounds on the land.
In exchange for the PHCA’s support, Starwood proposed the 50 campsites; a parking structure of up to 400 stalls on the golf course parking area along Ka Haku Road; and “1 Homes Hanalei,” up to 24 apartment-hotel units or 6 single-family homes on the hotel’s parking lot. The PHCA Board rejected the offer on June 17, 2021.
Plans for “numerous residential lots ranging from a few large ‘gentleman estates’ to smaller villa lots,” covering Woods holes 1–3, 4, 5, 8 and 9. Starwood intended to be “shovel-ready” by March 1, 2026, with utilities trenched “up to 20 feet deep,” on the anthrax burial ground. The court’s judgment stopped it.
Two-story luxury homes, an event pavilion with two ballrooms, and more parking on the eroding bluff beside the hotel. See Puʻu Poʻa →
Starwood argues that the protection for the whole 27-hole course lapsed in 2026. See All 27 Holes →
Sources: Starwood Capital Group and East West Partners, “Glamping in Princeville: Introduction, Plans and Frequently Asked Questions” (May 18, 2021); Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law on summary judgment (Aug. 2, 2023) ¶¶22–23; SOF-XI Kauai PV Holdings letter to the PHCA (May 2021); PHCA Board resolution (Nov. 19, 2021); Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law (July 14, 2025) ¶¶74, 76–77; Judgment (Aug. 6, 2025); Earthjustice (May 27, 2026); Starwood’s Motion to Amend the Findings (Aug. 18, 2025).
Sources are listed with each topic.
