Island Self Storage LLC has submitted a proposal in Kauai County, Hawaii, to convert several floors of the vacant Nawiliwili Bulk Sugar Building to self-storage and lease part of the building to be used as a construction-materials recycling center. The project would also include a company office and loft space, according to the source.
The existing structure is owned by Gay and Robinson Inc., a longtime sugar-cane farming enterprise that purchased the 3.4-acre property in 2001. Gay and Robinson ceased most of its operations in 2010 after its last sugar-cane harvest, the source reported. The building dates back to the 1950s. The site’s weigh station remains operational, and Garden Isle Disposal Inc. has been allowed to store trailers onsite. County appraisers valued the property at $2.5 million for the 2015 tax year, according to the source.
The plan calls for 1,650 storage units on the top three floors, with the first floor leased to Pacific Concrete Coring and Cutting Inc., a local construction company. The recycling center, which would comprise 12,900 of the building’s 43,000 square feet, would reroute construction materials that would otherwise be placed in a landfill, according to attorney Lorna Nishimitsu, who submitted a letter to county planning officials on behalf of Island Self Storage. In the letter, Nishimitsu tried to make a case for the unusual pairing of the two businesses.
“While self-storage facilities are not potentially detrimental to the health, safety and welfare of the public, the separation of materials from construction demolition may be somewhat noisy; but such activities are appropriate to the general industrial district,” Nishimitsu wrote. “Moreover, since these activities will be occurring within the confines of the existing bulk storage building, the impacts are contained, compared to if they occurred outside.”
The two businesses would overlap some business hours. Self-storage tenants would have daily access to units between 5 a.m. and 10 p.m., while the recycling center would be open daily from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m., the source reported.
State health officials are concerned about storm-water drainage and wastewater treatment at the site. “The state Department of Health will not recommend approval of this application until the storm drain and the wastewater issues are resolved,” officials wrote in a letter to the county.
The county Planning Commission was scheduled to consider the proposal this week.
Island Self Storage currently operates Guardian Self Storage in the Puhi Industrial Park in Lihue, Hawaii.
Sources:
- Hawaii News Now: Company Seeks to Transform Former Kauai Sugar Building
- The Garden Island: Company Eyes Reinventing Nawiliwili Sugar Building
