Larry Ellison closes deal to buy Hawaii's Lanai

HONOLULU -- Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison has closed on his deal to buy most of the Hawaiian island of Lanai, the island's seller said Thursday.

Billionaire David Murdock's Castle & Cooke Inc. said the deal has been completed for about 88,000 acres on the island near Maui. The land makes up 98 percent of the island's 141 square miles.

"It is very gratifying to me personally to see Lanai now in the hands of Larry Ellison, a very committed individual who will bring his ideas and energy to sustain the beauty and heritage of Lanai," Murdock said in a statement. Murdock said his 28 years on the island have been "inspiring."

A sale price for the land was not disclosed and the firm declined to give details. The Maui News previously reported Castle & Cooke was asking for $500 million to $600 million for the rural island. The land includes two resorts, two golf courses, assorted commercial and residential buildings, and plenty of open space.

According to Maui County records, the 301 parcels have an assessed value of $325 million, including improvements. The total market value is likely much higher. The largest parcel, for example, comprising 86,000 acres, has a total assessed value of $13.6 million but a market value of $100.8 million.

The deal also includes control of the island's major economic driver, tourism, which sustains the vast majority of the roughly 3,200 residents who live there.

Ellison, whom Forbes ranks as the world's sixth-richest man with $36 billion as of March, has not spoken publicly about his plans for the island. Local lawmakers who have talked to the billionaire's representatives say he has indicated he plans no major disruptions and to keep resort and other employees in place. He did not immediately return a message from The Associated Press seeking comment through Oracle, the Redwood City, Calif.-based software company.

Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie said Thursday that he thought Ellison would have the best interest of the people of Lanai in mind as he operates.

"Come on, this is Hawaii, let's show a little aloha," Abercrombie said. "Let's have an open heart and open mind."

The closing comes the same week state officials approved the transfer of three utilities on the island to Ellison. The state Public Utilities Commission then asked Castle & Cooke's lawyers for confirmation the deal went through.

Mike Fleetwood to open a new restaurant in Lahaina

September 29,2011

By SANDY COHEN , The Associated Press

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Long before the success of Fleetwood Mac, when band founder Mick Fleetwood was a kid in the U.K. learning how to play the drums, he dreamed of having his own restaurant. His parents entrusted the then 9-year-old with the stable of the old farmhouse they lived in, and young Fleetwood turned it into something of a children's speakeasy that he called Club Keller. Instead of booze, he poured Coca-Cola.

''I used to serve up Smith's crisps and fish and chips and stuff for other children to come round,'' the bearded rocker recalled during a recent interview, his eyes twinkling at the memory. ''I had my radiogram and my drums in there and it was my world.''

Now, five and a half decades later, Fleetwood is creating a new world for himself and his music: He's opening a restaurant on Maui in his adopted hometown of Lahaina.

Fleetwood's on Front Street is set to open early next year, and its namesake sees it as the next professional chapter in his life: A place where he can indulge his taste for fine food and drink (including his own Mick Fleetwood Private Cellar wines), perform with his friends and run the whole show. He plans to showcase local musicians and artists and invite the occasional famous rock star. The new establishment is essentially a large-scale, souped-up version of his old Club Keller.

''I've always wanted to do this,'' Fleetwood said on a visit to his manager's office in Beverly Hills. ''I'm like one of those weird Chinese creatures where you see something 30 years ahead. It's petrifying and exciting and fulfilling, because . . . if you keep focused, and it's a corny thing, but if you visualize and visualize and visualize, a lot of stuff really does come to you.''

Club Keller itself may actually be resurrected, said Fleetwood's business partner, Jonathan Todd. ''We have an option on a smaller place downstairs and, if we get it, I swear we're going to call it Club Keller,'' Todd said

Developing the restaurant is dominating Fleetwood's time. He helped choose the site (a historic building dating back to 1916 - the year his mother was born), select the decor and create the menu, but he insists ''it's not a shrine to Mick Fleetwood.''

''You'll know that it's my place but it will be very tastefully done,'' the 64-year-old said. ''It's not a museum for Mick Fleetwood. This is a real working restaurant.''

He says he'll draw on the ''heritage of Fleetwood Mac'' to inform its atmosphere.

''All of this is a responsibility to do it properly, and selfishly a responsibility to something that's very precious to me, which is everything I've done with Fleetwood Mac and my partners and the music,'' he said.

The restaurant has taken him away from music a bit, and he expects that to continue, but that's fine with him: ''Now I will have a place to play when I want to or need to.''

Besides Fleetwood Mac, the musician has two other bands, the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band and Mick Fleetwood's Island Rumours Band. With or without his bandmates, Fleetwood plans to play at the restaurant often - and there's at least one more Fleetwood Mac tour planned.

''We're going out next year,'' he said. ''We're all creatures of habit and we love what we do. . . . Whatever has happened, we are together.

''The whole thing is powerful, and all of that is somehow resonating into what I'm doing with the restaurant, Fleetwood's,'' he continued. ''It can't help but have that filtering through it. It's my place.''

But as his beloved band slows down ("Within the next five to seven years, I sort of doubt that Fleetwood Mac is going to be horribly active''), Fleetwood said he's excited to devote himself to his new endeavor.

''It's a sense of plugging who I am and what I am into something,'' he said, ''and for me it's the perfect vehicle.''