Unnatural disaster.

Shuddered and Unloved.

Coco Palms Resort was a resort hotel that was noted for Hollywood celebrity, tropical weddings, and torch lighting ceremonies that helped cartoonize and endear Hawaii to the world. Coco Palms was home to the good, bad and the ugly.

In the heyday, the resort was a place of joy and exuberance, employment and camaraderie, a place of laughter and happiness, a place where people met their sweethearts and community members made longtime friends.

And, there’s the ugly. Marred by hurricane destruction and disputes, the resort was built on a culturally significant site that is rich with legend and lore, home to royalty, burial and religious importance. To some, it is a place of great beauty and deep meaning.

The island is weary of Coco Palms.

Elvis has left the building.

Heartbreak hotel.

Every few years, they come and go. One developer or investor makes to-be-doomed designs on the place. First it was a fully restored resort, then real estate, then condos, then back to a resort. What is up with our County? What is up tech entrepreneurs who have bought property here? Can’t anyone help get this albratos off the new buyers back and into a community who values aloha and the land. It should be a park, home for Kapuna, home for historical preservation, and Hawaiian practitioners. A place for reflection in nature, for our community, before that too is lost.

Elvis has left the building.

There is talk in the community again about ill-fated Coco Palms. Some sad-sack picked up the un-investable property at auction. Foreclosed. Sold as-is, like a used car. The Private Capital Group purchased it at bid. They were the only bidder. On the footsteps of the Courthouse. By cashiers check. Really. That is how it all ended for the legendary Coco Palms Resort. Or has it began?

The community group I Ola Wailuanui is strongly voicing the need to preserve the land and envisioned the creation of a Hawaiian cultural and education center, agricultural park and community resource.

Sounds good to me.