The land area for Hawaiian Paradise Park and Kings Landing was sold to David Watumull's father. I believe it wasn't for a figure necessarily, but an arrangement where by certain things changed hands; for instance, the Watumull building in Honolulu became the Shipman building. (This is one of the things I was told accounted for the sale) I do know that it was in anticipation of statehood that these lots started to be marketed. One of the first lots that I bought was in Block 10, it was $545.00 or something like that. I think it was $85 down and $15 a month at 6%. In those days that wiped me out just to make a down payment, and to try to keep up the payments was something! It's a funny thing in those days it wasn't as easy to sell lots at $795 as it is today to sell lots at five, six, seven, eight or more thousand dollars per lot. Oddly enough, some of the local people who turned up their noses, today are buying now that the prices are greatly increased over what it was at the end of the 1950's and beginning of the 1960's. There was a promotion at the very beginning, (I was not here at this time but several people told me about it). During this promotion lots were made available only to people on the island, next to people within the state, and then it was thrown open to the people on the mainland. I know they had promotions in California, New York, Chicago, Detroit and places like that. As a matter of fact, I bought my first lot in a snow storm in New York City, back in 1959 and it was a sight unseen kind of thing. I took a lot of ribbing from my friends but when I came here to look at the lot I liked it well enough that I decided I was going to stay. I could definitely see a future here, despite some of the discouraging things that were said by local people. I know I had a hard time getting my first poker game going out here, because people didn't think that I had a bathroom or any kind of facilities whatsoever and they were very reluctant to come out. I was the only resident, so I guess I am the first permanent resident, of the sub-division. I was here a couple of years before the next families came, one was Coombs who built the house that the Mishimoras occupy now, and the other was St. Croix.
Originally there was only one entry into the sub-division and that was Paradise Drive. It was kept closed, with a chain to protect the fishing area. But the main reason, people would come in to picnic, and became careless like they do any place, I suppose, and it got to be a major problem with people throwing out their rubbish along the road. Unfortunately that problem still continues today. I see rubbish being thrown out along the main access roads in the sub-division. I don't know what can be done to prevent it. I certainly know that it's impractical to have a chain across the road now. In the old days when that was the only road in-it was important. Another reason for the chain was that people used this as an access to get into the Shipman estate from Block 10 roads near the ocean. Some people did a little bit of cattle rustling from the Shipman estate and brought out some free hamburgers. Still another reason was the university was doing some studies on opihi growth (I think some of these studies are still going on today). So they were trying to keep some areas free from harvesting the opihis to get some kind of idea on how fast they would reproduce themselves.
There were only about fifteen miles of road when I first came here-that was Paradise Drive all the way down to the ocean, most of block 10 and a few of the lower numbers-1 thru 10-between Paradise and Kaloli Drives. Then after that every 4th road was put in, then every 2nd road, then eventually they filled in all the roads. A good job has been done considering the bulk of the lots sold for $795.00 and $895.00, and for that kind of money, I think people didn't expect too much. When the lots were first put on the market, I know that there was a plan for this to be an undeveloped sub-division, and Kings' Landing was to be a developed subdivision. After some lots were sold in the early 1960's, the state announced that they were going to locate the new state prison on land adjacent to Kings' Landing. This panicked a lot of people, and it stopped the subdivision cold in it's tracks. I have to say to the credit of David Watumull, that everyone who had bought lots in Kings' Landing was refunded his money plus 6% interest. The plans for putting in the state prison fell apart, the panic began to fade, and I think everyone has forgotten about it by now. I do think that probably the island is ripe for a major development of Kings' Landing now. It is such a short distance from the ocean, and when the Coast Highway goes in, its going to put Hilo several miles closer, especially for those people who live close to the ocean. The Coast Highway will follow close to the ocean, swing mauka of the Shipman residence because of the family burial grounds. One of the provisions that Mr. Shipman made-if he was going to donate the right-of-way for the highway through the land-was that it swing sufficient distance out of respect for the family cemetery there. From there it runs into the State and Hawaiian Homes Commissions land to the Hilo boundary and then will swing into the intersection where Taniguchi's market is on Kanoelehua. In the early 1960's a study was performed by K I K Associates and this should be available in the Planning Office for anyone who wants to study or get an idea of what the alignment of that coast highway was meant to be. Actually, I think it might be a worthwhile purpose for people in the sub-division to look into. I know at the time when I was on the council there were about $400,000 in that account. I hope that money hasn't been lost or gone down the drain in additional studies, but it would seem to me this would be one way to get one road paved, and that is Beach Road. I am pretty sure that through the sub-division there is a sixty-foot right-of-way. If they don't have the money to do the whole highway maybe it can be done incrementally, and at least do that portion of Paradise Park along Beach Road, which would provide a paved surface across the sub-division at the lower end. This is something that should come out of tax payer funds and should not be on any kind of assessment basis. It would benefit many people, espcially those on the ocean end of the sub-division, I am sure.
The lots started out at $795.00 then went to $895.00 then $1095.00,
$1295.00, then jumped to $1995.00. That's what they were when
the sub-division sold out. I think it was in 1967 when the sub-division
sold out its last lots. There were some repossessions, I suppose
after that, but I am sure they were a small percentage of the
total. The sub-division to my knowledge has 8843 lots, plus several
shopping sites, several school sites set aside. I found it to
be a great place to live. I am in my 18th year here; my only regret
is that I didn't come here a lot sooner than I did. It's been
a great place to live-this island has been very kind to me. I
just hope that is some small way, while I still have time, to
find a way to express my thanks to the people of this island who
have been so terrific to me, because as I say the best part of
my life has been the part of my life that I have lived here on
the island, it's really great.
Property tax is one topic not included in our questions to Rick. We have researched tax records and arrived at representative taxes for one acre lots in Paradise Park, recognizing that assessed values of all lots are not the same.
The following table shows property taxes for representative one acre lots since 1959. The table shows considerable increase in taxes since the development began. The current taxes have increased to almost 600 percent greater than the taxes paid at the start of the present decade.
During the past five years the State of Hawaii has collected about one-half million dollars each year from taxes on Hawaiian Paradise Park Property.
Tax years Taxes per one acre lot Remarks
1959-1964 $ 1.13
1965-1969 $ 3.13 almost tripled
1970-1971 $ 8.77 almost tripled
1972 $30.43 almost quadrupled
1973-1978 $46.99
1976-1977 $45.74 dropped about $1.00
1977-1978 $45.74 same
1978-1979 $52.16 increased over $6.00