KAHULUI, Maui — A half-dozen mostly struggling businesses near Kahului Airport face shutdowns or relocations after being given until Dec. 31 to vacate state-owned property because the state Department of Transportation plans to develop rental car concessions in the area.

The notice to vacate was contained in a June 17 letter to Earl Eckel Jr., owner of Eckel Cabinets and Counter Tops on Kahale Street. The letter did not specify the Airports Division's plans for the area other than to say the property was needed for "an aeronautical or airport-related use."

A similar letter went out to six other businesses in the area, said Transportation Department spokeswoman Tammy Mori, The Maui News reported today.

Eckel didn't question the state's rights as a property owner.

"They have every right in the world to do it," said Eckel, who nevertheless questioned businesses being given only six months to relocate, a difficult task for Eckel's family operation, which has been at the same location for 40 years.

The message Eckel said he has gotten from the state has been: "Now, get the hell out of here and hurry up."

"My business cannot be moved on a hurry-up basis," he said.

The state plans to develop rental car concessions on the property, and a pre-bid conference for development has been set for 9 a.m. Oct. 28, Mori said Thursday. Bids for concessions will be accepted by Jan. 30, with a bid opening scheduled for Feb. 24.

The winning bidders will need to do an environmental assessment, and that would require the current tenants to be out, she said.

For the businesses already struggling with the downturn in tourism, the Airport Division's demand comes at a terrible time with inadequate notice.

"It's putting me out of business after 44 years," said Rodney Texeira, owner of the Coral Factory, who started at his current location in 1964 when it was only kiawe trees.

"I started out with nothing," he said, "and I built it up from where it was to here."

Texeira acknowledged the state's right to move business owners from the airport property, but he said he has tried to talk to officials to get more time.

"They don't want to talk with you," said Texeira, who pays a little more than $4,000 a month on a month-to-month lease. "It's not their problem. It's your problem."

He said he believes if he had at least a year to relocate, then he could get a loan for a new location and earn money to repay the loan, he said. But six months is not enough time to do all that.

Texeira said he has a dozen full- and part-time employees who will lose their jobs when his coral jewelry business needs to vacate the property. One employee is trying to help put her child through college, he said.

"It's so hard right now," he said. "Now the state comes along and puts nails in your coffin door."

T-shirt Factory Vice President Bruce Olsten said the state's move is more bad news in bad economic times.

"Our business is at the lowest economic point it's been at in 10 years ... with the severe drop in tourism," he said. "We don't know where we're going to find the funds to build out new offices, shelving and so on in a new location.

"We looking (for a new location), but the timing is very bad," he said.

The T-shirt Factory has 40 employees at eight retail locations on Maui, Olsten said. And that number is about 10 less than it was about two months ago, when the downturn began leading to company layoffs.

The airport location is the T-shirt Factory's central warehouse and offices, he said. It keeps the inventory from which other stores replenish their retail shelves.

Ted Sniffen, owner of the trucking company T. Sniffen & Sons, said the rent on the 4 acres his business has been leasing from the state went from $3,500 to $10,000 a month in March.

He said he protested the hike in rent, coming as it has with the cost of diesel fuel rising from $2.85 per gallon a year ago to approximately $5 per gallon as of last week.

Sniffen had as many as 20 employees, but with the downturn in the economy he's down to only eight.

"One by one we've been laying people off," he said.

Now Sniffen needs to find another location to store at least 20 vehicles, including flatbed trucks, vans, trailers and containers.

"We're trying to find a new spot," he said. "We've been looking around. It's hard to afford what they're asking."

Other businesses in the area include E&B Plumbing Inc. with seven employees and Aina Excavation Inc. with a dozen employees.

Eckel said he has not been able to find out what the state's plans are for the property or when it would be used.

"If they're not going to do it now, why do we have to move out now?" he asked.

The state has been running a legal notice on its plans for rental car concessions at all of the state airports, saying there are nine concessions to be provided at Kahului Airport. Concessions also are being offered for airports at Hilo, Kona, Lihue, Molokai and Lanai.

Eckel said the property he leases on a month-to-month basis for about $1,000 a month is roughly 7,000 to 8,000 square feet, but he uses only about 1,600 square feet of that for his cabinet and countertop business, which employs him and three family members.

He has tried to find another location, he said, but "so far we haven't come across anything to suit the bill."

While finding a new, affordable location is tough, it's also difficult to find a place with enough room, high ceilings and sufficient ventilation, he said.

"Our business is going very well at the moment," he said, but if it were disrupted, customers could take their business elsewhere. "How long are people going to wait and not get the service that they want?"

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