You have to wonder what it was about La Perouse Bay that caused Amazon’s Jeff Bezos to drop, what may be for him a measly $78 million, on a new house there. That was a record-high price for the Valley Isle, topping the prior high price by some $30 million. So now you know where Bezos will be hanging out when he isn’t headed into space.
The Amazon founder and his partner Lauren Sanchez have taken sides with the rich and famous Hawaii billionaire club on Maui. He’s there with Oprah, while Mark Zuckerberg is found on Kauai and Larry Ellison sits top remote Lanai.
The deal closed this summer, although details of the sale were only reported this week. Putting it together was complex, wherein Bezos bought the company that is the owner of the land, rather than buying the property directly. It has been reported that Bezos had been long-planning the Maui real estate buy, inasmuch as he recently donated to the Hawaii Land Trust associated with Maui environmental conservation. He also contributed to Maui’s Habitat for Humanity in what was termed a generous personal donation.
The appeal of La Perouse Bay.
Secluded La Perouse Bay (French name) is also called Keoneoio Bay (Hawaiian name). It is not far beyond Wailea, another playground of wealthy Maui visitors. It is just south of the Ahihi-Kinau Natural Area Reserve, home to fish and other marine life. It is also an area with salt pans, heiau, and fishing shrines. La Perouse is as far south as you drive. The area is rugged, and it is typically dry and hot. It offers great snorkeling along coves at the northern section of the bay for those experienced and there is coastal hiking.
The new Bezos oceanfront estate is remote and isolated. It’s perched on the southwest corner of Maui, on about 14-acres, just beyond the renowned South Maui beaches. As seen in the Google Maps photo, a lava field sits nearby.
The property has been called the Carter estate and comprises 7 parcels of contiguous land and part of an ancient Hawaiian fishpond.
Last sold for $4.2 million in 1996, the property is epic. The main house consists of 4.5k square feet, a 1.7k square foot guest house, plus other buildings and a large, 700 square foot round swimming pool.
There are few photos of the estate because it has not previously been on the real estate market.
Apparently this won’t be Bezos’ last purchase on Maui. He is looking at further island acquisitions too.
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I heard that boaters were swimming off La Perouse Bay and were confronted by Jeff Bezos security which forced them to leave. Is this legal?
My husband was confronted by security guards there today. He was on the water in a kayak. The police eventually came (because these people called them) and told my husband that it is private – that they were right. Just because it’s legally correct, doesn’t make it right.
Ed C I thought the ocean was free for all to enjoy. This is exactly what I mean about these rich people buying up the LAND in the islands. They think they own the water too. It’s just not right.
Uh oh! Last week my girlfriend and I were SUP cruising out on the little bay in front of the Bezos property when we were ordered to “GET OUT OF THE BAY” by two guards on the beach. We left, but we knew it wasn’t right.
I know that area well. Hot and dry. I’m sure that house and grounds are full of scorpions,centipedes and a gazillion mice. And those waters are known Tiger shark hang outs. Oh,and a scary homeless area he has to drive through to get there. Flood prone and nowhere to go during a tsunami. There’s a reason nobody lives there.
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Don’t be a hater no matter how much you don’t like him or his success…..that area is not “hotter or dryer” than the Wailea area. Where exactly is that homeless area you speak that he has to drive through?!? I know the area quite well and once you get out of Kihei (12 miles away) it is nothing but pristine beaches, luxury hotels and multi million dollar hotels/resorts/condos. Opinions etc are nice but please have some basis of fact!!!
Private ownership of beaches in the Hwn Islands is forbidden, except for Ni’ihau which has been privately owned in its entirety by the same family since 1864 (purchased during the Hwn Kingdom era). The ‘Ahihi-Kina’u Natural Area Reserve is northwest of Keone’o’io Bay, aka La Perouse Bay. Both the ocean portion of the reserve & La Perouse Bay are open to the public, with some restrictions/limitations for the reserve (no fishing or taking of any natural resources & no use of motorized boats).
Was there last week. 2nd time in 10 years. My favorite place.
Very spiritual and environmentally sensitive. Made my sister in law take back a couple lava rocks and ask Pele for forgiveness, also left offering.Locals should watch closely. Noticed the fence, camera’s, and private property signs🤔
Pele will be watching!!!
Aloha, how do we enforce this right.
Friends told us that they paddled their canoe to La Perouse Bay and were made to leave the beach and the ocean by some rather large and scary gentleman.
Aloha, So technically we could swim and/or kayak to his beach then, or is this a private shoreline. I didn’t think that existed in Hawaii. I remember being nearby once. The water is gorgeous but I was not an experienced enough snorkeler to venture out. Mahalo.
Hi Tammy.
You are correct. From the mean tide line out, every beach in Hawaii is public.
Aloha.
This listing from HawaiiLife has a shocking statement:
“…the carter estate at makena is pure paradise. Behind ancient hawaiian rock walls is 14.97 acres of enchanted oceanfront. A 2 acre deeded aqua-blue lagoon (please refer to tax map records and you will note they own a crescent shaped cove which is part of the ocean) providing the only private white sand beach (contrary to what you may believe they own the beach) on maui! … ”
hawaiilife.com/listings/0-keoneoio-kihei-hi-96753
Great. Bezos being on Maui makes me very nervous. He’s not a stellar human being.
That being said, money can buy everything. No matter how people obtain it.
Mahalo Jeff and Rob. I look forward, every day, to reading the latest and the greatest of news in Hawai’i happening now!
Aloha always 🌺🌺🌺🌺
Hi Pam.
Thanks. Good to hear from you. We thought about you in particular when writing this article. We get Zuckerberg and you get Bezos.
Aloha.
Aloha Rob and Jeff, that sure is SAD news. Pretty soon, all the islands are going to be owned by rich greedy people. How they can buy that much land is disgusting to me.
Please post
When I was a planner in Montana, I had dealings with Mr Bezos’ organization re: attempts to block shoreline access fishing rights.
In my opinion, formed by these experiences, this does not bode well for Maui.
Mahalo
Let’s hope that Jeff Bezos shows more Aloha to the locals on Maui than Mark Zuckerberg has to the locals on Kauai.
Right next to the end of the ~1790 lava flow and downhill the rift zone that may be the next eruption, albeit in 500 years.
might be off on the date as other sites say 14000 to 1600 – but that is the most recent flow.
any feed back on using a copy of your vaccination card instead of a QR? I dont feel good about taking my original card.
Thank you!
Hi Kathy.
We’ll ask others to comment on their experiences with that.
Aloha.
Hi Rob and Jeff Do you know who the company was that owned the land that Jeff Bezos bought? Mahalo. Just curious and how long had they owned the land and were they using it and how were they using it.
Hi Debra.
It was previously owned by Doug Schatz, who co-founded Colorado’s Advanced Energy.
Aloha.
Hi there – Thanks for the article. Would that be the southeast corner of Maui? Aloha
Hi Stephanie.
No, that is the southwest part of the island.
Aloha.