Historic Pioneer Mill office is slated for restoration | News, Sports, Jobs

July 20, 2024

The Pioneer Mill Co. office building is located off Lahainaluna Road. The state-registered historic site is slated for revitalization and the public will help shape the future of the county-owned building. Photo courtesy Lahaina Restoration Foundation

The more than 100-year-old Pioneer Mill Co. office building in Lahaina, a state-registered historic place that has been sitting vacant since the turn of the century, is slated to be restored for future public use.

But first, officials are seeking input from residents, who are already pitching suggestions such as a museum, a hospital or public health facility, a senior services center, a co-working space or an art or creative center.

“This evening’s conversation is about potential future uses,” Theo Morrison, Lahaina Restoration Foundation executive director, said during a community meeting Wednesday evening. “There is no developer standing in the wings, and Lahaina Restoration foundation has no plans for this building. We are here today to listen to what you, the community, wants to see happen.”

Adjacent to the West Maui Senior Center on 1.86 acres off Lahainaluna Road, just mauka of Honoapiilani Highway and the Pioneer Mill smokestack, the building was acquired by the County of Maui in 2007.

The two-floor, 9,200-square-foot structure has stood empty since the mill closed in 1999, with much of the area now overgrown and unmaintained.

Adjacent to the West Maui Senior Center on 1.86 acres off Lahainaluna Road, just mauka of Honoapiilani Highway and the Pioneer Mill smokestack, the Pioneer Mill Co. office building was acquired by the County of Maui in 2007. A Google Maps aerial shot shows the location of the parcel. Photo courtesy Lahaina Restoration Foundation

Pioneer Mill Co. office building and its annex are listed with the Hawaii Register of Historic Places.

Constructed in 1910, the 5,000-square-foot office is one of two surviving buildings in Lahaina associated with developer Hackfeld & Co. Ltd., according to Stanley Solamillo, an architectural historian who also worked for the Maui County Planning Department from 2004-2013.

Solamillo said the building was constructed with board-formed concrete and has a prewar German neoclassical design. It is the only one of its kind on Maui, he added.

A 4,200-square-foot annex was added in 1947 by Maui Construction Co. It housed company records on the first floor and an expansive office for the plantation manager on the second, according to Solamillo.

Currently the site is zoned residential, which means the building or premises should be used by the federal, state or county government for public purposes.

The Pioneer Mill Co. office was completed in 1910. Courtesy Baker Collection Bishop Museum

Under state law, an environmental assessment will be required to restore the building.

Michael Summers, president of Wailuku-based Planning Consultants Hawaii, said parking will be central to the planning effort.

A specific number of stalls for on-site or approved off-site parking are required. Other possibilities for parking include joint-use parking or acquiring land for required stalls.

“General office is one stall per 500 square feet,” Summers said. “If you were to build out the building and fill it up with office space, you would need approximately 18 stalls to accommodate that.”

Funding will be explored after the community determines the appropriate use for the building.

The Pioneer Mill Co. office is pictured in 1966. Photos courtesy Library of Congress

Morrison said there are funding opportunities such as federal grants and tax credits depending on the building’s future purpose and the audience it will serve.

“It’s going to cost a lot of money,” she said. “That shouldn’t hamper what we plan or what we dream or what we want. . . . The main thing now is to come up with the use that the community wants . . . that will determine the other steps as we move forward.”

Public meetings have been scheduled to discuss the space, with the next at 2 p.m. May 8 via Zoom. To receive a meeting link or to send comments or ideas, email Kimberly Flook, Lahaina Restoration Foundation deputy executive director, at kimberly@lahainarestoration.org.

After the meetings, organizers will process results, develop draft recommendations, host a meeting to share the recommendations and make revisions to reflect public input. They will also prepare the Pioneer Mill Co. office building community use plan.

* Kehaulani Cerizo can be reached at kcerizo@mauinews.com.

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The Pioneer Mill Co. office is pictured in 1966. Photos courtesy Library of Congress

The Pioneer Mill Co. office was completed in 1910. Courtesy Baker Collection Bishop Museum

The Pioneer Mill Co. office is pictured in 1966. Photos courtesy Library of Congress

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