Somewhere above the Wailea resort sits an upper-level water tank that Alexander & Baldwin built when it owned the land. It handed the tank to the county Department of Water Supply, which has been using it since 2008. That deal came with a storage credit of 1 million gallons for the parcels the tank was meant to serve. As of this fall, 360,050 gallons of that credit have been used and 639,950 remain, according to Maui Now's Oct. 31 report.
Ledcor Maui LP, the developer behind the 75-unit La‘i Loa community, wants to use part of that credit for 273 new homes near the entrance to Wailea. The same county water department has also said in writing that Central Maui has no additional source capacity for new or expanded water service. Ledcor's approval depends on how those two facts get reconciled.
Storage credit and source capacity measure different things
A storage credit is a claim on space in a reservoir. Source capacity is how much water the system's wells and treatment plant can reliably produce every day. Wailea is served by the DWS Central Maui Water System. The county staff report on Ledcor's project ties the parcels' allocated average daily demand to "an agreement dated March 13, 2018, for the Upper-Level Storage tank." That agreement covers storage. It doesn't create a single new gallon of supply.
The supply side is where the system is tight. In a September letter to the Planning Department about this project, DWS Director John Stufflebean wrote that demand on the Central Maui system is expected to reach 98% to 100% of its maximum reliable capacity within three years. In the same letter he said:
"no additional source capacity is available to support new or expanded water service"
Maui Now reported the letter as part of its coverage of the project.
Ledcor development manager Casey Lamb told the Hawai‘i Journalism Initiative, in the same Maui Now story, that "there is enough storage capacity in the tank for the project." He added that once the credits are granted, "DWS will determine whether there is adequate source." Both sides agree that the tank question and the source question are separate, and only the tank question has an answer so far.
The first phase is estimated to use 106,731 gallons per day. The full buildout across all of Ledcor's parcels is estimated at 558,000 gallons per day. Ledcor says that by using water-saving fixtures and native landscaping, it expects to use less storage than the original agreement contemplated.
Why the lifted water shortage doesn't change the math
If you've followed Maui water news, you may remember that DWS lifted the Stage 1 water shortage for Central and South Maui on Dec. 5, 2025, effective immediately. That service area includes Kīhei, Wailea and Mākena. The notice credited recent rainfall, better surface water flow and lower demand.
A shortage declaration is about how much water existing customers are using right now. Source capacity is about whether the system can take on new customers for good. DWS lifted the first, and in 2026 it still described the second as essentially fully committed.
Another Central Maui project has already hit the same limit. The EC Pāʻia Town proposal would bring roughly 170 homes. DWS's Aug. 14 letter on that project also found "no additional source capacity," and the developers told the Planning Commission they would drill two private wells instead of connecting to the county system, Maui Now reported. Ledcor's Wailea parcels sit on the same system.
Where the 273 units would go
Ledcor's planner, Kimi Yuen of PBR Hawaii, described the area as "among the last entitled development parcels from the original Wailea resort." The first phase sits makai of Piʻilani Highway, near Wailea Gateway Center, the Residence Inn and Hotel Wailea.
| Community | Homes | Buildings | Location | Estimated cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Market-rate, larger | 147, one to four bedrooms | Three six-story, two three-story | Wailea ʻIke Drive and Kālai Waʻa Street | $270 million |
| Market-rate, smaller | 86, two, three and five bedrooms, plus two one-bedroom employee units | Three six-story, two two-story | Kālai Waʻa Street, across from Wailea Fairway Villas | $185 million |
| Workforce rental | 36, one and two bedrooms, workforce units in perpetuity | Three three-story | Wailea ʻIke Drive, above the Residence Inn | $16 million |
Ledcor's full phase is 233 market-rate units, 36 workforce rentals and four income-restricted employee units, for 273 in all. Two of the employee units are the ones built on site at the smaller community. Lamb told the commission the project would not allow short-term rentals or overnight use. The project's final environmental impact statement, filed in February 2025, expects only about 10% of the market-rate homes across the whole program to be full-time residences.
Ledcor's full plan covers 925 to 975 units across eight properties in the Wailea area. Lamb said future phases would not go above the 975 units the developer studied.
Sizing it against what Wailea actually sells
This is where the water question reaches anyone pricing a Wailea condo today. According to the REALTORS® Association of Maui's September 2026 report, the Wailea/Makena area had 66 condo closings from January through September 2026, at a median of $2,085,000. In the same months of 2025 there were 57 sales at a $2,500,000 median. September 2026 alone had 10 closings with a $2,222,500 median.
At the January-to-September 2026 pace of about 88 sales a year, Ledcor's 233 market-rate units would equal roughly two and a half years of every condo sale in Wailea and Mākena combined. The full 900-plus market-rate program would equal about a decade's worth.
Supply on that scale would matter if it arrived. For now, all of it is waiting on a water source the county says the Central Maui system doesn't have to spare. So the condos competing with each other for Wailea buyers are, for now, the existing resale buildings. That's the inventory behind 2026's rising sales count and lower median.
What has to happen before anyone breaks ground
On Oct. 27, the Maui Planning Commission granted a petition to intervene from the nonprofit Mālama Kakanilua and five residents. Their filings raise concerns about water supply, the aquifer, habitat for the endangered ‘ōpe‘ape‘a and cultural sites including iwi kūpuna. According to the commission's Oct. 27 minutes, the permit decision will come after the contested-case process. Here's the order of steps from the county record:
- Mediation. Retired Maui judge Joel August is the mediator, with a 60-day limit that ends Dec. 27, 2026.
- Contested case, if mediation fails. The Planning Commission would serve as hearings officer, and the developer carries the burden of proof on issues including water, according to Maui Now.
- The SMA permit and Planned Development Steps 1 and 2. Planning Department staff recommended approval with conditions, but the commission hasn't voted.
- Subdivision approval and Planned Development Step 3. These come later.
One of the conditions recommended in the Planning Department staff report makes the applicant responsible for "water source and system improvements for both domestic and fire protection." Those improvements would have to be finished before a certificate of occupancy is issued, unless the developer bonds them. Even if every vote goes Ledcor's way, the source question still comes back at the end.
Ledcor's Cultural Advisory Group also helped form a nonprofit, Ulu-a-Paeahu, to care for open space and cultural resources in the project area. Two and a half acres would be dedicated to it for restoration, a plant nursery and demonstration gardens, with part of its funding coming from future condo associations.
Quick answers
Does this affect the water meter on a Wailea condo I already own? DWS's statement is about new or expanded service. The Ledcor filings don't say anything about existing meters in established buildings.
If Ledcor gets approved, when would the six-story buildings show up across from Wailea Fairway Villas? No construction schedule has been set. Mediation ends Dec. 27, and a contested case, the permit vote, subdivision approval and Planned Development Step 3 could all follow.
Could these units become vacation rentals later? Ledcor told the commission the project would not allow short-term rentals or overnight use. The commission hasn't voted on the permit yet.
This is general information about a public permitting process, not legal or financial advice, so check anything about your own property with the right professional.
If you're weighing a Wailea condo and want to know how a project like this could change the view, the traffic or the competition around a particular building, I'm glad to walk through the county record with you. Steve Landin follows these hearings so you can make your decision on what's actually been filed, and $500 from every closing I complete goes to a local Maui charity.
