Hawaii County buys Honolulu Landing in Puna to protect shoreline and heritage

Hawaii County has bought Honolulu Landing, a 364-acre coastal parcel on the Puna coast, for $3.7 million, locking in one of the island’s most significant shoreline preservation deals in years. The purchase ends a campaign that had been building for more than two decades and gives the county a permanent foothold over land long valued for access, culture and conservation.

The property sits between Waiakahiula and the Nānāwale Forest Reserve and includes about 4,000 feet of undeveloped shoreline. It is also an ahupuaa landscape with deep jungle and archaeological evidence of long human use, including burial sites, village complexes, heiau, house platforms, rock walls, ahu and planting areas. Those features made the land especially important to cultural practitioners, scientists, conservation groups and lineal descendants who pressed for protection.

Mayor Kimo Alameda announced the acquisition through the county’s Public Access, Open Space, and Natural Resources Preservation Commission program, known as PONC. The commission is funded by an annual 2% contribution from county real property tax revenue, a public financing stream designed to preserve culturally and historically important sites, natural resources and access for recreation and education. County officials had said in January that the deal was already in escrow and expected to close by March.

The county council unanimously approved Resolution 286-25 on Sept. 17, 2025, authorizing the Department of Finance to use money from the Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Fund. County records show Honolulu Landing was first identified for preservation in the county’s first PONC report in 2006, underscoring how long advocates had pushed to keep the parcel from development.

A county news release said the acquisition will preserve the land in perpetuity and protect natural and cultural sites as well as ocean access along the Puna coast. For residents of Puna, the immediate beneficiaries are people who rely on the shoreline, and the kūpuna, practitioners and families who see the area as a wahi pana, or sacred place. The county’s next obligation is to steward the property as preserved land, keeping development pressure off the shoreline while maintaining the cultural and environmental protections that justified the purchase in the first place.

The acquisition also fits a broader county preservation strategy. Hawaii County has used PONC for other land purchases, including the 81-acre Kawainui Makai site on the Hilo-Hāmākua coast for $6.2 million in January 2026, showing that Honolulu Landing is part of a continuing effort to secure land before it is lost to private development.