The Stices Are Building a Custom Home in the Kaanapali Coffee Farms

My family and I have just embarked on the journey to build our first home from scratch in Maui. Our custom home in the Kaanapali coffee farms, or our Ka’anapali Sea House, as named by the builder, is the absolute dream property for my wife Megan and myself. We are still in somewhat disbelief that it is actually happening. We are both strong believers in “meant to be” happenings in life and much like our personal story of how we met, our new home is an absolute meant to be.

The Stices Are Building a Custom Home in the Kaanapali Coffee Farms

The first video I have ever shot with our drone and edited on my own. There’s clearly some room for improvement!

I will be writing regular blog contributions chronicling this story so that I can share this with our family, future children, and all of those who care to share in our journey. Throughout this series, I will also be talking story about the neighborhood as well as sharing pertinent real estate information.

This was the first flying camera photo I took of our lot. It looks quite a bit different now. The cleared area is about 1/3 of our building pad. The driveway comes from the left, and the gulch is on the right.

The Ka’anapali Coffee Farms

Those who read Hana Hou magazine on Hawaiian Airlines may remember the coffee farm ads with the developer’s spec house Hale Anuenue (the rainbow house) sitting on this beautiful grassy plain and surrounded by lush coffee plants against the backdrop of the majestic Mauna Kahalawai. Our Ka’anapali Sea House is near the uppermost Northeastern corner of The Ka’anapali Coffee Farms.

Sitting at about 500 ft. above sea level, our 5-acre lot has 360-degree views of Lanai island, the Pacific Ocean, Molokai island, year-round sunsets, a beautiful gulch, and Mauna Kahalawai (West Maui Mountains) on the mauka side of the home.

At night, we have the absolute darkness of the mountain shelter behind us, and below us we can muse on the “city” lights of the Westin, Honua Kai, and Mahana resorts on the shoreline in front of us.

If we are lucky, we can catch the faint glimmer of a car heading down the windy north end of the road on Lanai island. We have seen this a couple times from the upper deck and it is pretty cool knowing what a different world it is over there, just a few miles away.

An area map of the Coffee Farms superimposed mauka side of Ka’anapali North Beach

Lot #40

Lot #40 has always been our number #1 lot in the entire 52-lot neighborhood when we manifest this dream of ours roughly two years ago. Megan and I always wanted to be on the Northwestern ridge of the coffee farms. Namely because first, we love the prominent view of Molokai island from here. Second, because we like the privacy of being on the outer rim of the neighborhood. If you have ever been up to the Coffee Farms, the only viewing platform remaining, that is about 12ft. off the ground, marks the corner boundary of our lot.

The view of majestic Mauna Kahalawai from our land

Vacant Land Sales Pick Up

The Coffee Farms first launched in 2007, but it took a very long time for the vacant lots to sell. I think part of it was the general market conditions at the time. The fact that only two homes were built, and people can have a hard time envisioning vacant land. Not everyone is up for building a custom home from scratch.

Furthermore, financing for this particular development was difficult to obtain at the time. There is now one very prominent local bank that is doing both vacant land and construction loans within the Coffee Farms. Sales momentum started to rapidly pick up in 2015 and many of the lots started to sell, including all of them on the Northwestern ridge.

Lot #26 (651 Aina Mahiaai) was the second home completed in KCF and sold late last year for $3.475M

The Sales Momentum

We were just about brokenhearted when we saw lot #40, 39, and 38 all sell because we were not quite ready to pull the trigger at the time. However, we still tried to keep our head’s up, holding true to our “meant to be” mantra. As time went on and we became more prepared to make this happen, I feverishly looked for every single opportunity.

We had our eyes on both lot #38 and lot #40 and we inquired with both owners on several occasions about selling. Neither one of them expressed an interest and thus we started to explore other options. One of these options was lot #24, which is still available for sale from the developer, and I think is a great property, but was not our personal favorite. Interestingly enough, lot #38 also did come on the market a couple of weeks after we reached an agreement on our property. Stay tuned for a future post on this property.

Lot #38 is located on the ocean side of the road in between our building pad on the right and the construction that is taking place on lot #35. Molokai island is one of the most breathtaking backdrops you will ever see. Lot #38 is currently offered for sale as a resale for $979K with a full set of approved building plans on this stunning 4-acre parcel.

Back to Lot #40

One day out of the blue, Greg Brown, the owner of lot #40, called me and asked me if we were interested. We were elated at the opportunity. Greg is also a well-respected local builder who has built many higher end homes throughout West Maui. He said that he would be willing to sell us the lot with the plans for the home.

We discussed it internally. And we decided to ask Greg if he would work with us on a few changes for the home. To allow us to make many of the decisions on the finishes, and build out a completed property. After some hearty negotiation back and forth, we were able to come to an agreement. We are beyond grateful and blessed to be afforded this opportunity.

Living in Coffee Country Feels Like Wine Country

I was literally born under a coconut tree in my parent’s front yard on our family property in Haiku. My two younger sisters, Brianna and Chloe, were born inside of the home several years later. Our parents Tracy and Laura Stice, raised us all on this amazing 10-acre farm property in rural Haiku. My parents still live on the same property, but I chose to make the move to West Maui in early 2010, which serendipitously allowed my wife and I to meet each other and fall in love.

From the gulch that borders our lot looking towards Lanai island. Looking out over the coffee feels very much like looking out over grape vineyards.

Both Megan and I love space to roam. The ability to grow our own fruits and vegetables, and have a strong affinity for animals. We can and will have all of these things on our new property. It is hard to express how serene it is in this location. It is incredibly quiet, the fresh air is amazing, and with stunning surroundings tantalizing your every sense.

The Coffee Farms

The Coffee Farms are an Agricultural zoned community, which affords us the lifestyle we are looking for. Additionally, should homeowners elect to do so, they can construct a main home, an accessory cottage not to exceed 1,000 sq.ft. of interior living area, and a detached barn. I have seen some pretty sophisticated Ag barns throughout the years in Maui, but it is nice that we are allowed to be a bit creative with this.

Ka’anapali Weather

We also considered Launiupoko and Kapalua as both of these areas have considerably more space for a family to spread out. We love the Ka’anapali weather as we consider it the best on the island. Lots of sunshine, but not too hot with the frequent trade winds, and just the right amount of rain to keep everything nice and green.

Ka’anapali Resort Community

Ka’anapali was the first planned resort community in the entire U.S. being developed in the early seventies. We love everything that it has to offer in terms of its proximity. From breathtaking beaches, to great golfing venues, and lots of great restaurants and shopping. It even presents comfortable aquatic conditions for all sorts of fun in the ocean.

We’re Selling Our Home in Ka’anapali Golf Estates

We currently live in Ka’anapali Golf Estates right now. It’s a very nice gated community located directly mauka of the Ka’anapali Resort area. Overlooking Whaler’s Village, the Hyatt, and the Sheraton. It has been a wonderful home for us the last six years, hence we hope to find someone who loves it as much as we do. We will put our home on the market later this year and I will feature it in some future posts.

Sunset view from our home in Ka’anapali that we will be putting on the market

Want to Call the Ka’anapali Coffee Farms Your Home on Maui?

The developer still has several lots left for sale at fantastic prices. There are a couple of resale properties that are on the market as well. Prices start in the low $700k range up to a little over $1M for custom home sites.

Additionally, I do know of another local builder who intends to build a couple of spec homes in the neighborhood. These are absolutely spectacular properties that sells completely turn-key in the $3.5M-$4.3M price range.

Aloha from West Maui,