Dillingham Ranch, a 2,740-acre oceanfront property on the north shore of Oahu, has sold for $36.5 million ($13,321 an acre), which represents a 44 percent reduction from the original listing price of $65 million. The Wall Street Journal reported the sale to an undisclosed buyer in March. The historic property includes a working cattle ranch, a 3,000-square-foot lodge, an equestrian center, polo fields, and a palm tree nursery. It is famed as the filming site of TV series Lost and Hawaii Five-O, among other productions. The property is also an in-demand site for weddings and other group events. The ranch borders Hawaii’s Moloka’i Forest Reserve and stretches from the ocean to the ridgeline of the Waianae Mountains. According to the most recent property listing, the ranch was marketed as 11 distinct land parcels.

Development Plans

California-based real estate investment firm Kennedy Wilson purchased the property in 2006 for $26 million. In 2012, the ranch was listed on the market for $65 million, as reported in The Land Report Top Ten. Various news outlets suggested plans were in place to develop portions of the property into as many as 70 residential lots. However, facing local resistance, those plans fell through, and the property did not sell. Kennedy Wilson listed the property again in May 2019 for $52 million and later reduced the asking price to $40 million.

Most recently, the property had been listed by Matt Beall of Hawai’i Life. It was marketed by Matt Davis of Cushman & Wakefield and Anthony Provenzano of Cushman & Wakefield ChaneyBrooks. A blog post by Hawai’i Life broker Beth Thoma Robinson suggests the property had been in escrow for multiple months in 2021 with another interested buyer before it returned to market and the final buyer was found. Buyer’s agent Neal Norman of Hawai’i Life declined to name his client, but he told the Wall Street Journal that the property would remain a ranch.

Historic Pedigree

Established in 1897 by Hawaii rail tycoon Benjamin Franklin Dillingham, Dillingham Ranch has a long history of hosting celebrities and dignitaries, including General George S. Patton and King Charles III. Dillingham Ranch’s historic lodge, built in 1917 and known as “The Big House,” has been returned to its original period condition following a multimillion-dollar restoration.