Kapalua Village offers new hope for 2023 Lahaina wildfire survivors

HONOLULU (KHON2) — The Kapalua Village is another stepping stone for those who lost everything in the 2023 Lahaina wildfire.

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One third of Kapalua-based employees who lost their homes will soon have a sense of stability and normalcy once they are able to move into these newly built modular homes, the first privately-funded temporary housing community on Maui.

“We cried all night. We didn’t quite know but we had an idea that our house burned that night. We went back the next day, and it was all gone,” Kapalua Golf Course Superintendent Bryan Pierce said.

Pierce was among 37 other Kapalua-based employees affected by the wildfires that destroyed Lahaina.

“Nothing you can do at that point,” Pierce said. “There’s so much else to do as far as helping the community find food, finding shelter.”

One year later, hope is something he and his wife can finally welcome home.

“Every month that goes on and people don’t have transitional housing, it increases the probability of them having to leave for the mainland and we didn’t want that,” Governor Josh Green said.

The Kapalua village, spearheaded by Uniqlo’s founder and CEO Tadashi Yanai supplies a critical need for workforce housing, according to officials.

“It would be much easier to leave but having this on the horizon,” Pierce said. “Knowing it was going to be completed and quickly, it helped so many of us be able to stay here. Which is super important. None of our employees have left.”

Fifty temporary housing units are being supplied by Japan’s largest home builder, Daiwa House Group.

The units will be fully furnished.

“The only thing I found was a spaghetti colander,” Pierce said. “That was left so I kept it as a memento, I guess. I don’t know where I’ll put it, but it’ll remind me of that day.”

Twenty homes have already been built since the start of the project back in February. The rest will be completed sometime in September.