PAIA, Maui » Looking every bit the rock stars that they are, all dark shades, tight jeans and pursed lips, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of Kiss welcomed county officials and other well-wishers Sunday to an event celebrating their soon-to-open Rock & Brews restaurant.
Simmons and Stanley, founding members of one of the world’s most lucrative rock music franchises, are part-owners of Rock & Brews, a burgeoning chain of restaurants with four locations in Southern California and one in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico. The family-friendly restaurants feature American comfort food and an extensive collection of boutique beers served amid concert-themed decor, including large-scale photographs and artwork of bands and album covers.
Hawaii’s first Rock & Brews is on Maui’s northeast shore in this former sugar plantation town, which is enjoying new life as a bustling seaside hamlet of funky boutiques, surf and swimwear shops, tattoo parlors, a variety of eateries and other small businesses, most locally owned.
Rock & Brews was built on the site of a run-down property along Hana Highway formerly occupied by Jacques restaurant. It is expected to open Feb. 6, employing 77.
After being called to the stage to the tune of Kiss’ "Rock and Roll All Nite," Stanley noted he and Simmons had flown to Maui after performing Saturday at a National Hockey League game outdoors at Dodger Stadium. Speaking for the pair, Stanley said he has been a regular Maui visitor for 26 years.
"I love this place and always have," he said. "People talk about ohana, a sense of family and extended family and tradition that’s so much a part of Hawaiian culture. Anyone who was afraid of what we were going to bring in here is mistaken, and that will show over time."
Stanley said Rock & Brews uses local products and is a big supporter of charities such as the Wounded Warrior Project. (On Sunday the restaurant owners handed a $10,000 check to the Paia Youth and Cultural Center.) In places where Rock & Brews has opened, neighboring businesses have benefited from the increased activity, he said.
"I’ve been in Paia before. … This is a beautiful town, and all we want to do is help polish a diamond."
While welcomed by many in the community, the theme restaurant is opposed by some Paia residents and merchants who say it isn’t a good fit for Paia, already struggling to retain its character and deal with parking, traffic and other problems. Critics, including the Maui Tomorrow smart-growth organization, protested when the Maui Planning Commission issued a special management area minor permit to the restaurant project based on the county’s determination the construction project was valued at less than $500,000. Minor permits do not require public hearings.
At Sunday’s event, project manager Bill Frampton told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser the $40,000 prefabricated structure stayed within the footprint of the prior establishment and had a smaller occupancy of 151 people. He said construction documents verifying the project cost were accepted by the county.
In remarks to the crowd, co-owner Michael Zislis of Manhattan Beach, Calif., acknowledged the controversy, saying, "You would have thought we were trying to put in an oil pipeline."
Later, Zislis said he tried to meet with opponents but was rebuffed and told to take his business to Lahaina.
"Who are they to tell me what belongs in this town?" he said in an interview. "It was bad, and it cost me a lot of money" from the delays.
Despite the hassles, Zislis said he would like to open two more Rock & Brews on Maui, in Kihei and Kaanapali.
Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa and state Sen. J. Kalani English (D, East Maui-Upcountry-Molokai-Lanai), whose district includes Paia, were among those on hand to congratulate the restaurant owners, who include brothers Dell and Dave Furano, who work in the concert industry; and Zislis’ sister Chrystie Blietz and her husband, Mark, who live in Haiku.
Both elected officials noted that Paia town has suffered from decades of haphazard building projects.
"Now newer establishments like this one are redoing everything to bring them up to code to make them much more usable and to extend the lifetime of buildings," Arakawa said in his remarks. "They’re also bringing in a lot of new faces into the area and making sure we have a lot of new things to do.
"This establishment, I believe, will be packed almost every night, and that life coming into Paia is going to allow the businesses in this area to feed off of it and make this entire area much, much better for everyone."
While agreeing that parking remains a problem, English said Rock & Brews should be seen as an improvement to Paia and will appeal to both visitors and residents.
"It’s a better use of space than what was here, and the kind of thing we need to have in Paia," he said in an interview. "It was built to code and is legal, and is bringing the community together."
Paia resident Bruce ‘U‘u, a member of the Maui County Cultural Resources Commission, said he is happy to have the new restaurant in his neighborhood.
"I can have some food and drinks and walk home," he said. "It’s one of the few buildings that were built legally and to code."
Maui Tomorrow Executive Director Irene Bowie told the Star-Advertiser on Friday that the organization will ask the Planning Commission to reconsider its decision to issue the permit based on what she said was a faulty valuation of project costs. Bowie said the group did not get involved to block Rock & Brews from opening, but to protect the permitting process.
"A lot of people in the community have concerns and were denied an opportunity to voice their concerns, and the commission could have put conditions on the project to make it a better fit for that community," she said.
She said she hopes the panel will take up the request at its Feb. 11 meeting, and if the organization’s concerns are rejected, the next step could be an appeal in Circuit Court.
