David Murdock has sold his Hawaiian island, but he's keeping hisseven-bedroom Lanai home, a woodworking shop containing koa furniture, twocarved elephant tusks in a resort lobby, and 1,000 rare orchid plants.
The billionaire is holding on to those assets and others, while selling most ofLanai to Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison.
It was already known that Murdock would be retaining rights to a controversialwind project, but a redacted version of the sale agreement was submitted to theHawaii Public Utilities Commission this week, and it outlines what assets thetwo billionaires agreed that Murdock would retain.
Lawyers for Murdock's Castle & Cooke Inc. said redactions were necessary toprotect business interests. The price Ellison paid for 98 percent of theisland's 141 square miles has not been revealed, though the Maui Newspreviously reported the asking price was $500 million to $600 million. MauiCounty records show the assessed value for all of Lanai's land is $635.4million.
The latest filing is related to the utilities commission's ongoing review onpermanent approval to transfer three utilities. Interim approval was granted inJune, allowing the sale to proceed.
Murdock's seven-bedroom, seven-bathroom, 44,921-square-foot (13, 691.92-meter)private residence on Kipihaa Place has an assessed value of $6,192,000,according to Maui County property records. Some of the other assets he willkeep include a lot across the street from the home, assorted apartments, twocarved wood Balinese sculptures in a resort lobby and Richard's grocery store.
Richard's is one of three markets in town, and now the only employees who workfor Murdock are those who work in Richard's, said Robin Kaye, spokesman forFriends of Lanai, which formed to oppose Murdock's wind farm that would deliverpower to Oahu through an undersea cable.
"There are many people who won't shop in Richard's because it'sMurdock's," he said Thursday. It's a small, yet crucial part of the islandbecause it's a major source of food and sundries, he said.
Under Murdock's ownership, the lobbies of the two resorts were furnished likeAsian art museums, Kaye said, but those pieces have recently been removed andsome are hopeful they'll be replaced with decor that's more reflective ofHawaii.
"You're not going to come here because it's Maui or Waikiki, you're goingto come here because it's Lanai," Kaye said. "We're hopeful it'll besensitive to the beauty and Hawaiian-ness of the island. It's quite anaesthetic change."
Meanwhile, Ellison's senior-level employees have been in town every couple ofdays and have been talking with the community — a hopeful sign of what lifewill be like under Ellison's ownership, Kaye said.
A spokeswoman for Redwood City, California-based Oracle declined to commentThursday.