KOLOA, Kaua'i — It's been a long road to developing Kukui'ula's former sugarcane fields into a 1,500-home luxury residential subdivision.

But work has begun on the project's $100 million clubhouse and spa complex, which is to be completed in 2010 by Linthicum builders.

Tom Shigemoto, with Alexander & Baldwin Properties, says the kama'aina company thought about building homes on the sloping hills southwest of Koloa town as long ago as 1958.

Over the project's lifespan, plans shifted, partnerships changed and the subdivision has been downscaled from the 3,500 homes that were once projected.

Now, prices start at $2 million plus for a 2,800-square-foot plantation-style "cottage" on a quarter-acre, or $1.5 million for land to build your own dream home on a larger lot.

The partnership between landowner A&B and DMB Associates, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based luxury developer "will be the best development on Kaua'i," Shigemoto said last month.

Among the projects related to the subdivision is a Kukui'ula-built, $13 million western bypass for Po'ipu Road, named Ala Kalanikaumaka, which is to open for traffic by the end of October, said Dick Holtzman, president of Kukui'ula Development Co.

Also, a 75,000-square-foot Kukui'ula Village retail complex at the roundabout intersection of Ala Kalanikaumaka and Po'ipu Road is to open next year. Anchor tenants are to include Merriman's Cafe, Tommy Bahama and Quiksilver.

The first homes in the 122-lot Makai Collection will go in next year, Holtzman said. That phase is located closest to Po'ipu Road and the ocean and is about three-quarters sold, he said.

The next phase will be the Mauka Collection, directly uphill and inland, Holtzman said. Build-out of the entire subdivision will move from east to west and is expected to take years, he said.

A&B is donating 4 acres in Kokoa to Kaua'i County for up to 60 affordable housing units, Shigemoto said. That's in addition to the company's lower-than-market-value sale of 2.5 acres in 'Ele'ele for low-income housing and 5.25 acres in Kalaheo for the Brydeswood subdivision.

Kukui'ula is by far A&B's largest housing development on Kaua'i, Shigemoto said. Since 1950, the company has developed 800 houselots on the island, but in increments ranging from eight to 322 lots at a time, he said.

Included in the project are a 20-acre community park, 2-acre beach park, 9 miles of hike and bike trails, and a Tom Weiskopf golf course, all of which can be used by the general public.

In deference to Kaua'i sentiments against gated communities, the project will allow no fences and gates, other than those around swimming pools for safety reasons, said Hannah Sirois, a Kukui'ula vice president.

The development has its critics, however. The Sierra Club of Kaua'i formally objected to Kukui'ula's plans to remove 55 ironwood trees and 50 pencil trees on the makai side of Lawai Road as part of its landscaping.

"We strongly recommend only minimal alteration to the landscape to ensure greatest protection to the site," Kaua'i Sierra Club spokeswoman Rayne Regush said in written comments to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources about Kukui'ula's plans for the shoreline area, over which the agency has jurisdiction.

Regush questioned whether removing shoreline trees would "result in an irrevocable loss and destruction of natural, historic and cultural resources" for the sake of a better view plane for Kukui'ula golfers and residents.

The Board of Land and Natural Resources at its July 25 meeting on Kaua'i authorized a test section of Kukui'ula's proposed shoreline changes and results reported before its full coastal landscaping plan proceeds.