WAILUKU, Maui — The Maui Research & Technology Park in Kíhei could be home in the next few years to an $18 million, 125-bed long-term care and skilled nursing medical center.

Plans for a nursing facility surfaced during Tuesday's Maui Planning Commission meeting, where Regency Pacific Inc. received a special accessory use permit.

The company plans to hire 187 people, up to 90 of whom would be considered highly skilled and highly paid, including doctors, nurses and physical therapists, according to plans provided to the commission. Most of those jobs will go to Maui residents, Regency Pacific officials said.

The company intends to partner with Maui Community College's nursing program to staff the 60,000-square-foot facility on nearly 5 acres at the end of Lípoa Parkway in the R&T Park, said Steven Oldfield, Regency Pacific development planner. With a nursing shortage across the country, the facility would include an MCC nurse training lab, according to the plans.

"If we need to, we will train them ourselves," Oldfield said.

Regency Pacific plans to break ground in 12 to 18 months, with up to another year after that for construction, Oldfield said.