Big Island Buyer\’s Brokers

The little village of Waimea, nestled at the foot of snow-capped Mauna Kea, is anything but the sleepy little cow town it first appears to be as your brightly-colored rental car soars 2000 feet up to the cool highlands of the Big Island. Although there have been cowboys in Waimea since long before they appeared in the American west and cattle ranching is still a very prominent industry here, there are many surprises waiting in this jewel box of a town.

Recently identified as one of our country’s most valuable zip codes, Waimea has attracted the famous and successful from all over the earth, and it is not uncommon to see a famous face shopping for fresh produce in rubber slippers or well-worn cowboy boots - like everyone else. Imagine how nice it must be for a celebrity to be able to get in their car, buy groceries, pick up some mail and go home without a fuss.

One reason Waimea has done so well is that it has a great hospital, built by the people of Waimea with the help of many generous donors, not the least of which was Earl Bakken, who’s visionary health care plans bloomed here in paradise. The North Hawaii Community Hospital has been a godsend to the people of North Hawaii and the Kohala Coast and has even caught the eye of the vaunted Cleveland Clinic. As a result of mutual interests, the two health care facilities have now formed the Bakken Heart Brain Institute, bringing the brightest researchers into the community.

The world’s finest astronomy facilities are located on Mauna Kea, and two of the very best maintain their head quarters in Waimea, The Keck Observatory and the Canada France Telescope Corporation. It is not unusual at all to see scientists frolicking in the summer sun, whizzing Frisbees into the trade winds as the Waimea breezes blow the complications of the deep universe right out of their minds!

So many come to Waimea to enjoy the fine restaurants found scattered about. Everything from inspired Tuscan fare at Cafe Pesto to Hawaii’s original regional cuisine at Merrimans awaits the hungry visitor and local alike. Add to that two wonderful private schools, Hawaii Preparatory Academy and Parker School, and you have a combination that simply cannot be duplicated in our entire country. No wonder the very successful among us choose to have homes here!

There is a dark-ish cloud on the horizon for this bright little hamlet, however. Waimea, like so many other little towns and villages across the earth, grew up around an intersection. It has been the cross roads of the Big Island for traffic flowing from Kailua-Kona to Hilo for many generations, but that will soon change. Within the next few years a new cross-Island corridor will be completed to replace the dangerous old Saddle Road that runs between the ancient volcanoes, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. Built largely with Department of Defense funds, this new high-speed roadway will likely attract much of the traffic that Waimea folks live off and complain about.

Will the creative and bright people of Waimea wake up to this threat and start thinking of themselves as a location that will have to compete for visitors, or will the community slide into memory as one of the greatest places that used to be? Stay tuned, intrepid reader. Stay tuned!

Imua!

Bill Jardine

Filed under: Updates