The Dowling Groups' Maluaka in Makena, which is being built according to standards devised by the US Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), may have begun a trend in Maui real estate. Now Starwood has announced that their third timeshare resort at Ka'anapali will be going green.

Starwood Vacation Resorts on Wednesday revealed its plans to build a third time-share resort at North Beach, with 390 units ranging from one to three bedrooms. An architect's drawing presented along with the announcement Wednesday showed a resort with a similar look to the Westin Kaanapali Ocean Resort Villas and the Westin Kaanapali Ocean Resort Villas North, but Starwood said this version will be LEED-certified.

This sort of development, while necessarily more expensive to build, can only help keep Maui in the forefront of destination resorts. As such, development of this type can only be good news for Maui real estate.