"It allows our people to kind of inch their way back into our town, baby steps."
That's how Lahaina business owner Courtney Lazo described the town's newest commercial project this summer, and it offers one perspective on where things stand. Front Street opened to vehicle traffic again on August 1, the stretch from Pāpalaua Street to Shaw Street, along with Dickenson and Prison streets. Mayor Richard Bissen called it "another important step in Lahaina's healing journey," and it is. But driving down Front Street and doing business on Front Street are two different milestones, and the gap between them is one part of Lahaina's recovery this fall.
Here's the number that makes the gap concrete. As of the county's September 15 rebuild dashboard, Lahaina has 604 homes completed, 679 with issued permits, 530 with permits in processing, and 415 under active construction. Add those up and you get 2,228 residential addresses somewhere in the pipeline or already finished. Front Street's commercial corridor, the strip that used to define the town, has five issued building permits. One of those five is actually under construction. For every business permit issued on Front Street, the county has more than 400 residential addresses somewhere in the pipeline or already finished.
That mismatch isn't a failure of anyone's effort. It's what happens when residential rebuilding runs on FEMA and insurance timelines while commercial rebuilding runs on complex approvals, reduced building footprints, and disagreements over what historic Lahaina should look like when it comes back. Both are true at once, and knowing which one you're looking at when you drive past a fenced lot changes what you should expect to see there next year.
What August 1 Actually Opened
The reopened stretch runs with no regularly restricted hours, which is the practical detail residents care about most: no more curfew-style access windows, no waiting for a specific time block to drive through. Dickenson and Prison streets came back with it.
What's still closed: Market Street, Papelekane Street, and Mokuhinia Place, all held up by harbor dredging work that's expected to continue through December. The road reopening and the harbor work are running on separate clocks, and the harbor clock hasn't caught up yet.
Five Addresses, One Under Construction
The five Front Street parcels with issued commercial permits sit at 612, 632, 714, 724, and 744 Front Street. As of this summer, one of those five had visible vertical construction. The other four are somewhere between permit issuance and groundbreaking, plus roughly a dozen more properties still in pre-application consultation with the county.
That's one measure of commercial rebuilding. A road reopening happens once. A commercial district comes back parcel by parcel, and right now that count is five.
The Marketplace Is a Bridge, Not a Storefront
The most concrete new commercial activity isn't on Front Street proper. It's ʻUlu o Lele, an interim marketplace going up on the old Outlets of Maui site near Front and Papalaua streets. The nonprofit Hawaiian Council is running it as an $8 million, two-year project, with a $4 million grant from the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation's Maui Strong Fund covering part of the cost. The plan calls for 17 retail units and 8 food truck spaces, 25 vendor slots total, expected to employ around 90 people.
Vendor applications closed on September 28, after Hawaiian Council reported 93 responses to its initial interest form. A five-member committee made up of Lahaina community members will pick who gets a space, with priority going to businesses that were directly displaced by the August 8, 2023 fire. Reports differ slightly on the exact opening month. The Hawaii Tribune-Herald has reported a September opening; other coverage has pointed to October. Either way, it's landing this fall on a parking lot, not a rebuilt storefront, which is precisely the point Lazo was making. It's a way for displaced business owners to get back into commercial activity without waiting years for their original lot to clear permitting.
Kimo's Has an Address. It Doesn't Have a Date.
If you've heard that Kimo's is coming back, that's true, and it's also further out than the announcement made it sound. The restaurant was a Front Street fixture for almost 50 years before the fire destroyed its original oceanfront building. In July, T S Restaurants confirmed a letter of intent for a new site in the Chan Wa Building, a historic Front Street structure, with Kimo's signing on as anchor tenant alongside a redevelopment partnership between Mousa Hassan and Kent Untermann.
CEO Jackie Reed was direct about the timeline: design and development are still underway, and she's hoping to have the restaurant serving the community again in two to three years. That's a real commitment to a real address, not a reopening you should plan around for next season.
The Banyan Tree Is Recovering Faster Than the Park Around It
The tree itself is doing better than a lot of people expected. Arborists have spent months treating it with water, compost, and soil work, and green shoots are visible on branches that were charred in the fire. What hasn't changed is public access. Banyan Tree Park has no announced reopening date, so the tree remains something you view from the harbor or a passing car, not somewhere you sit.
The Harbor Came Back Faster Than the Storefronts Did
The harbor's recovery has followed a different timeline from Front Street's commercial rebuilding. Lahaina Small Boat Harbor reopened on December 15, 2025, after 28 months closed for structural damage and hazardous water conditions. Of the 48 tour and charter companies displaced by the closure, state data shows 12 relocated to Maʻalaea and 7 have returned to Lahaina since the harbor reopened. Atlantis Submarines came back in June, towing a submarine over from Oahu and bringing 15 employees with it, a symbolic return for a company that lost nearly all its Maui equipment in the fire.
Dredging work is ongoing through December to open up more slip capacity, which is also what's keeping Market Street and the two adjacent streets closed on the commercial side. The harbor's comeback is a reminder that recovery isn't one uniform pace across the town. Marine tourism moved faster than building permits, for reasons that have more to do with federal infrastructure funding timelines than any local sentiment about how fast Front Street should look like Front Street again.
Where People Are Actually Eating Right Now
For anyone deciding where to grab dinner this week rather than tracking permits, the working map has settled into something reasonably stable. Star Noodle is operating out of the former Frida's Beach House space on Front Street. Mala Ocean Tavern and Aloha Mixed Plate are still running their oceanfront spots. Coco Deck, the casual bar and kitchen that used to be Duck Kine, is near Cannery Mall on Front and Kapunakea. Sale Pepe Maui relocated to the industrial park and has become the go-to for pizza on this side of the island. Inside Cannery Mall itself, Sergio's Cantina and Kaeli's anchor the food court.
A few relocations are worth keeping straight if you're pointing a visiting friend around town: Captain Jack's Island Grill is now at The Sands of Kahana, and Honolulu Cookie Company's West Maui shop moved to Whalers Village. Honolulu Magazine's August count of roughly 91 Lahaina food businesses found just over three dozen reopened somewhere on Maui, up from just over two dozen when the magazine last checked two years earlier. It's slow movement, and it's also not one-directional. A few spots that reopened since the fire, including Kamala's Kitchen and Merienda Maui, have since closed again.
What to Watch This Winter
The next real signals are specific and dated. Vertical construction should become visible on more of the five permitted Front Street parcels as the two additional permits close to issuance actually get issued. ʻUlu o Lele's vendor selections will start naming which of the 93 interested businesses actually get one of the 25 spaces. Harbor dredging runs through December, which is also the soonest Market Street and its two closed neighbors could plausibly reopen. None of that is the same as Front Street looking the way it used to. Together, they mark the next steps in Lahaina's recovery.
If you're tracking how Lahaina's recovery is reshaping the town parcel by parcel, Maui Homes by Jason keeps an eye on these updates as they land, not because a road reopening changes property values overnight, but because understanding how road access and commercial rebuilding mark different parts of Lahaina's recovery is worth something to anyone who calls this town home.
