PEU Developer of Hawaiian Oceanfront Property for Obama

President Obama's Foundation head and private equity underwriter (PEU) Martin Nesbitt is developing oceanfront property in Oahu, Hawaii for the Obamas.  Nesbitt's property received an easement for the refurbishment and maintenance of a seawall and steps for fifty five years from the state legislature and the governor in 2015.

ProPublica reported:

In order to protect the property from flooding because of sea level rise in the coming decades, developers are seeking to nearly double the height of some sections of the wall. After construction, the entire structure would stand between 9 and 11 feet tall. They also plan to build two more walls totaling 70 feet in length behind it for support.

The report added:

By the 1990s, scientists were warning that those seawalls were causing significant beach loss on all the Hawaiian islands.

Alarmed by these losses, state officials in 1997 released a roadmap for protecting the state’s beaches. The report emphasized that the seawalls were destroying coastal ecosystems, threatening the state’s tourist-driven economy and limiting the public’s access to beaches and the ocean, a right enshrined in the Hawaii Constitution.

Hawaii's state legislative session opened in January 2015 with great fanfare.

In her opening remarks, state Sen. Donna Mercado Kim (D-Kapalama, Alewa, Kalihi Valley, Ft. Shafter, Moanalua Gardens) highlighted several issues to be addressed this session, including the fight against invasive species and beach erosion.

Australia's New South Wales commissioned an engineering study to deal with its Wamberal beach erosion problem.  It stated:

“A seawall will provide benefits to beachfront properties by reducing the impacts of coastal processes,” the report by Marsden Jacobs found. “However, in the longer term, more properties in this area are likely to experience greater damage and loss of property values from the increased flooding of Terrigal lagoon associated with sea level rise.

“Higher sea levels will result in the increasingly frequent inundation of hundreds of properties surrounding the Terrigal lagoon, the loss of the beach, and impacts on council assets such as water, electricity, sewerage and roads,” it found.

“The key beneficiaries from construction of a seawall are the approximately 60 owners of beachfront properties at Wamberal.” 

After Marty bought the property President Obama pushed disaster financing.

Obama's friend navigated the development process like a true PEU.  He subdivided the land to avoid a zoning restriction, had neighbors sign confidentiality agreements and worked the political process to get approval for an expanded seawall that is not allowed.

Environmentalist Obama and his buddy Nesbitt knew about sea level rise when they bought their oceanfront properties.  The Obamas have a property on Martha's Vineyard and may soon have another courtesy of Waimanalo Paradise LLC.

It's a PEU world, where politicians Red and Blue love PEU.  The rest of us don't matter but every few years at election time.

Update 7-13-23:  Carlyle co-founder David Rubenstein interviewed Marty Nesbitt for Bloomberg Wealth.  Nesbitt would not reveal if Barack Obama is an investor in PEU Vistria.

President Obama and Marty Nesbitt are consistent in their manipulations (workarounds in areas intended to protect public interest):

...nonprofit Protect Our Parks argued that the federal government failed to carry out required environmental reviews for the Obama Presidential Center, which is being constructed in the historic Jackson Park.

The group has asked that the library be moved to a location outside of a dedicated public park.