Among the adjustments being forced by a growing global economy are changes in land use worldwide. Highly desirable land, formerly in cultivation, is becoming available for new uses because of the nature of competitive economic forces. In Hawai’i, the sugar cane industry is no longer economically viable, and with its demise prime sites have become subject to development. In addition, populations once dependent on sugar cane for economic survival have had to seek other means of supporting themselves.

The North Kohala Coast on the Island of Hawai’i is one of the earliest areas settled by the Polynesian colonizers. The site of the resort is a portion of former sugar cane land, deeply carved by gulches that carry the water from the slopes above down to the sea. The model for the site development was the Ahupua’a, the traditional pattern of land management practiced by Hawai'i’s Polynesian settlers.