UPDATE: Goodfellow’s 100 Worker Layoffs After Kihei Mall Ruling

A graphic illustrating where the mall is to be built at the intersection of Kaonoulu St., mauka side of Piilani Hwy. Image obtained from public plans by Eclipse Development Group.

Editor’s note: Story updated to clarify status of employees.

By Maui Now Staff

Goodfellow Bros. says that it is laying off 100 workers as a result of a Land Use Commission ruling against the Kihei Malls development (aka “Kihei Mega-Mall”).

CEO Steve Goodfellow told Maui Now that the 100 workers are mostly full-time employees of the company and mostly in the construction trades. He said about a third of those employees have already received pink slips.

Last week the state Land Use Commission, by a vote of 6-3, found Pi’ilani Promenade North (the shopping mall), Pi’ilani South (the shopping center) and Honua’ula/Wailea 670 in violation of the LUC’s 1995 order which allowed only a “light industrial” development.

Goodfellow Bros., the general contractor on the retail project, had started working on the project and was forced to “put things on hold” during the hearing process.

Now that the development has been found in non-compliance, 100 jobs in areas such as operational engineers, laborers and field workers will be lost, says Goodfellow.

Goodfellow told Maui Now that layoffs from his company were just the first and “insignificant” compared to the total loss of jobs due to the malls’ development being halted, which he pegged at around 1,800.

According to opponents of the malls, the LUC found violations of Condition 5 (provide a frontage and connector roads), Condition 15 (develop the property as represented to the Commission as a 123 lot “Kaonoulu Industrial Park”), and Condition 17 (submit annual reports to the Commission regarding steps taken to develop the property in compliance with the order).