WAILUKU >> The owner of a plantation on Maui wants to turn the 1,600 acres into a development with homes and small businesses.

The Maui News reports 66-year-old Mike Atherton is making plans for the area near the small town of Waikapu, which was once an epicenter for sugar cane production and commerce on Maui.

Atherton calls his dream the Waikapu Country Town project.

An environmental report outlines construction of retail stores, restaurants, an elementary school and nearly 1,500 homes in two, five-year phases on both sides of Honoapiilani Highway.

Atherton says the tropical plantation would serve as the “village center” and remain relatively untouched.

He says home construction would be a mix of single-family, multi-family, rural and country town mixed-use homes around the village center.