Real estate developer Peter Savio has announced a new agricultural project, Orchard Plantation, in which he will offer affordable land to small farms on Oahu's North Shore.
"One of the big problems here in Hawaii is we all talk about [agriculture], and we talk about helping local people get into [agriculture], but we don't have a single program to help them finance, so they cannot finance their operations. I sell everything at cost," Savio said.
The fee-simple, organic and non-organic agricultural project is located in Waialua and will feature 155 one-acre lots. Each acre will cost $130,000 and Savio is requiring a minimum acquisition of two acres per parcel. He also has plans for a possible plantation camp, a housing area within agricultural land that would be owned by the farmers, which would also make financing easier, according to Savio.
The plantation camp must still undergo a typical zoning approval process, but Savio said, "I can't imagine them saying no."
This project for Hawaii orchard farmers will not only allow owners to farm on their own land, but will also allow them to manage all of the orchard lands, according to Savio.
His previous three farming projects — which consisted of the sale of 286 acres, 62 acres, and 350 acres of Oahu land to local farmers — sold to buyers through a lottery system in record time. In his first project, 90% of buyers paid cash, he said.
"It shocked us. And in the second project, again, 90% paid cash. They cannot get financing but they were like, 'Peter, this is too good of a deal to pass up.'"
Savio is also working on structuring a program where the land will continue to remain affordable for future generations.
"In working with the farmers, we asked them, would they be willing to make this project affordable forever?" Savio said. "And they agreed. What we're going to do on all of our [agriculture] projects, is that the farmers have agreed that they will restrict the resale, not to the market price, but the price based on the increase in wages."
He will hold an informational meeting with more details for local farmers at 9 a.m. Feb. 5 at Mango Street Grill in Wahiawa.
"My developments are not about making a profit. They're about satisfying a need or providing a purpose," Savio said. "In my career so far, I've given away about $400 or 500 million dollars in profit to my buyers in the form of price reductions."
