You've Got Pineapples
Grove Farm began as a sugar cane plantation about 150 years ago. By
the mid-'70s, the company began withdrawing from a declining sugar
market and diversifying into residential, resort, industrial, and
commercial land development and management, including the golf
course and the largest shopping center on the island. A year after
Case bought the company, he expanded its holdings to some 40,000
acres, making it one of the largest landholders on Kauai. "His
posture on his landholdings is a long-term one, to keep [them]
economically viable and to preserve [their] resources," said Allan
Smith, vice-president and COO of Grove Farm.
And Grove Farm isn't Case's only major investment in
Hawaii. He's
the principal shareholder of the Maui Land & Pineapple Company,
which owns 28,000 acres on Maui - making the company the
second-largest landholder on this island as well. And as with Grove
Farm, MLP has a diversified portfolio - in pineapples, commercial
and residential property, and the luxury golf-centered Kapalua
Resort.
Here, too, Case looks at the MLP investment as an act of
stewardship, as well as business. "Why not make an investment in
something that you love and care about and want to help nurture, as
opposed to some investments that are from a purely
return-on-investment stance? Yes, I thought investing in Hawaii
made [business] sense, but I am hopeful that my involvement will be
a positive force for the community."
The Maui concern, however, was not doing well in recent years due
to a downturn in the pineapple market. So Case reached into his AOL
playbook and hired David Cole as the chief executive. Cole was head
of
AOL's New Enterprises Group in the mid-'90s before he left to
run Sunnyside Farms, a
Virginia supplier of gourmet organic
produce.