The Story of Coconut Island

Living in Maui, you’ve probably heard mention of Coconut Island, also known as Moku o Loe. Although it’s a small island, its current value is appraised at $2,666,500. Even more interesting, however, it the story behind this small piece of paradise.

The story of Coconut Island begins about 80 years ago, when Christian Holmes II (the Fleischmann Yeast heir) purchased the island for his own personal use. Over the next few years, he converted the island into a livable residence by doubling its size and even adding a zoo and an artificial lagoon.

When Holmes died, Coconut Island was purchased by Edwin Pauley, a wealthy oilman from California. With the help of his wife, Pauley established what would later become the Hawaii Institute for Marine Biology. This is when the island split to be half public and have remained private. However, in 1965, the state ceased some of the island as a result of property taxes never having been paid on part of the island that was built on state property by Holmes.

Pauley’s heir’s eventually sold the private portion of the island to a Japanese mogul in `987 for $8.5 million. But in 1995, Pauley’s heirs helped the University of Hawaii repurchase the property.

Though it has changed hands many times in the last century, Coconut Island is still a very valuable piece of land for its size and resources.

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