The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-11-24
ITS A BIG SCHEME
An Option On the McCllly Prop
orty Secured.
LARGE ADDITION TO HONOLULU
To incorporate for S75O.OOO- The
Plan of Captain Cr!swold
s, me Of the Details,

| II certain plans and negotiations
! now under way mature, and there is
/ little doubt but that they will the
whole topography of the Waikiki dis
! trict will be so changed that even the
residents will hardly be able to recog-
| nize it. There will be no more stag
nant marshes, foul pigpens and dirty
duck ponds, no more of the hideous lit
| tie shanties in which Chinese and Jap
anese delight to dwell, but in their
place will be seen a broad, level expanse
! of country, intersected by wide and
! beautiful bOulevards paved with as
| phaltum and cement sidewalks with
/ shade trees on each side and dotted
/ with beautiful residences, the future
| homes of many of the wealthy and
| middle classes OF Honolulu's coming
population.
There is a corporation in process OF
formation with capital of not less
than S750,G00, in which many of the
:
lists will be interested, which will I'M
dertake this great work and endeavor
TO carry it through with Aladdin like
celebrity. The company will probably
be called the Waikiki Improvement
Company; but the name has not yet
been fully decided on. In the interest
or this corporation parties have been
at work for the past year quietly buy
ing up all the leases on the McCully
| tract OF 40 acres and the Booth tract
opposite the residence of George Man
son, OF little more than five acres
! Today there Is not a single lessee or
tenant on these two tracts who has not
| surrendered his lease. This Drelimi-
nary work has involved a large ex-
pendlture of money, but it has finally
been accomplished. The principal
lease on the McCully tract has twenty
years TO run and that on the Booth
tract about eight years During this
time negotiations have been also car
| ried on with a view to securing the
| title in fee from the owners. an option
| has been secured ON the Booth proper
| ty and an agreement partially made
with Mrs. McCully as TO the price to be
J paid her
| The whole of this large tract is to be
filled In level with the present Waikiki
road by means of temporary railway
to run to the foothills, which will con
Vey the necessary soil directly to the
place to be filled in. Negotiations have
! already been concluded with parties
owning billy tracts in the neighbor-
hood OF Pundhou and Manoa by which
their lands will be leveled off and the
surplus soil dumped on the McCully
marsh. In addition to this the same
company has also negotiated with the
Bishop Estate with view to the filling
III OF all their lands on the makai side
OF the Waikiki road, and these nego-
tlauonS have 50 far succeeded that an
agreement has been reached as to
price, ETC., which only awaits the sign
ing of the deed by Mrs. McCully to the
company to be carried out It was on
this understanding that the Board of
Health some time since granted the
Bishop Estate an extension Of time in
which to fill in the tract of land on the
lower Waikiki road recently con-
demned as unsanitary, with the guar
antee from the estate in the meantime
that the condemned land should be
partially drained.
The gentleman who is at the head of
| this great enterprise is none other
| than Captain Griswold, OF whose prev
ious career something has been recent
! ly written in these columns. Yester-
dry he consented to tell the Advertiser
something of his plans. saying IN sub
| stance:
About a year ago a prominent resi-
! dent of Waikiki wrote to NE concern
| ing this proposition. He said that the
property owners OF the beach and
J ,A~,, 30 81 4 I'D S34o
! condition OF the marshes along the
! Waikiki road and were willing to give
| financial backing 10 any project which
would better it, After some CORE
spondence / came 70 Honolulu, and on
| looking over the ground concluded that
| something might be done. AS it would
! involve the expenditure of about mil
| lion dollars before any returns would
come in, concluded the only safe plan
was to quietly stay in Honolulu and sit
: Down and study it out. This | have
done. bringing my family here with me.
! For nine months | have worked stead
/ lily on the project, and | think success
| is now in sight. The first thing to do
! was to buy up the leases. This was
/ lob that has taken much time, more
tact and good deal Of money. | now
control every lease on the McCully
/ place and the Booth tract and an OPP
! ton for the purchase of the last With
regard to the McCully property, after
! securing the 20-year lease on the place
! I at once entered into negotiations with
Mrs. McCully personally and through
! her agent. My first offer was declined
as not being large enough. | then in
creased it, and IN response to this offer
Mrs. McCully wrote that it was getting
nearer to what she thought the proper
I " was worth, and that il | would in
/ crease il to figure which she named
! she would be inclined TO close up the
: transaction. I then offered her the
amount she named and there the mat
4 ter rests, as there has hardly been time
/ to hear from her in return. | expect
/ TO hear something definite from her by
! the next mail or it is likely she may
! come herself
"Oh, yes I have heard of the So