Magnum Mania!

I asked this question on the Robin Masters Estate (Pahonu) thread:

Hey guys, I'm new here but long time magnum fan. I work for marvel/DC/other comic companies and have slipped magnum into their comics for 8 years. Anyway, I visited the estate last December and it gave me such a sad empty feeling to see the place as it is. I think it's cool that a fan , someone like Duke ,could obtain the house. I haven't read they everything but can we get together to do a kickstarter fund to help the purchase or renovations? Could do simple shirts backers, engraved stones/bricks, visits... Idk, I'd like to help out and I'm sure we all would... Those of us who don't have millions
Clay Mann

Sascha added:


Hello,

I am new here too, from Germany, and since 1980 a Magnum Fan.

I have read partly these posts about Robins Nest and the risc too loose this wonderful place.

So it is just an idea in my head ..... maybe it was discussed here anywhere already .......
well why not trying to start a crowdfunding campain on kickstart with the following goals:

* We are founding a Magnum association or foundation.
* We collect magnum relatet stuff like parts from the set.
* We keep Robins Nest like it is, but adapt the interior according to the Magnum movies.
* We rebuild/convert it into a hotel for magnum fans and other tourists.
* We offer a Ferrari GTO for rent. Maybe we organise some sight seeing tours which are in correlation with the set, the movies etc.
* We could organize a yearly magnum meeting there.
* We could offer sommer "mystery dinners". I dunno if this is known in US, however here in Germany its called "Krimi Dinner", where real actors are playing a story in a restaurant and include the guests into the story.
* and many more.

As far as I know we need to offer some kind of concept or master plan on kickstart. Some in this forum do live there in Hawaii if I got it correct. For this master plan we need to know the legal issues there. For example if it is possible by law to convert in a hotel.

Forther issues are, who does work out this plan?
Who will finish his current job and work for the association as a hotel manager ... and many other questions.....

Regards
Sascha

Sounds great!

Kind of brings to mind the unfortunate fact that "everything works on paper."

Can donate time, but little else.

Still say Manetti should buy it.

That's a huge initial investment though, considering the uncertain future of the property and unknown return.

Where's Robin Masters when you need him?

Hello,

thank you ClayMannPi for opening this thread.

So we had the same idea in the past!

I would say if we don't try now, in the future the chance to reach the same will become lower. Most MagnuM PI fans may be 40+ now. Most of them should be in a situation were they have the money and time to visit Hawaii in holidays. In 20 years this generation will start dying .....

I had a look at wikipedia. The highest amount of money there was 13.285.226$. So it will become difficult if Robins Nest is sold for abou 10.000.000$ ... however .....

In my opinion we should try to buy it complete, not to rent.

* For this we need someone here in the forum who lives close and may have a view/inspection with the seller. For kickstart it is a must to have good and detailed business plan. Without knowing the substance of the building we cannot estimate renovations costs.

* Another issue are the legal restrictions there. Is it possible to open an hotel there?

* What kind of changes must be performed to the garden and inside th house? For example toilets on the floors, first aid rooms ... and .... and .....

* Whats with the neighbours do they accept noise, for example if there is Magnum party in the garden?

* Could it be possible to build a small landing plattform for that Island Hoppers helicopter?

* Is it allowed to build additional guest houses on the ground?

So any locale here who would support it and try to get all this and other vital information, step by step? Sorry I cannot clarify/perform this from Germany. And I really don't have any idea of the legal details there in Hawaii!!!!

Based on this information we could develope an alpha version of the bussiness plan concerning renovation costs and possible use of the building.
Of course I can estimate the costs for rennovation in Germany for such a building, but in Hawaii .... .... again for getting cost estimations of local craftsmen we need under circumstances someone who lives there, who knows which craftsman is cheap, which one is good .....

After all of this we shoudl define how to start the business, which legal form should it have, who will become the hotel manager (again a local would be the best in myopinion)? Who controls him? And so on. Which salaries to pay? Building up there a Magnum museum? Having a gift shop there? Which price for the rooms, with/without restaurant or using a catering service . .... and so

308GUY, as far as I have heard you may spent some time on this, thanks a lot! Are you a local?

>Kind of brings to mind the unfortunate fact that "everything works on paper."

In my opinion we should try anyway. Maybe the kickstart project fails. Ok than it is like it is and Robins Nest maybe gone when bought by a construction company. Nothing dangerous happened to us, our live will go on like before we just lost a little bit spare time.

But we have a little little little chance to drive the history in a different direction and we should catch up this chance. And we got the money to start, it may not only conserve a nice historic place, some of us will perhaps change their lives. We need a manager of the hotel (I won't do that job!), others may work in the association .. or what ever others may organize there Festivals .......

>Still say Manetti should buy it.
Has he enough bugs? Why should he do?

Ok I should finish now. Maybe I am dreamer and what I am writing here is totally unrealistic........ but maybe thats why people like I or people like we, love to watch Magnum PI and dream about a different live ......

ANYWAY ANY LOCALE HERE WHO IS INTERRESTED TO SUPPORT THIS PROJECT?

Regards
Sascha

I too think it's better trying then not.
I'll be the first to say I'm not the guy to put together a kickstarter. I've got zero knowledge to crowd funding. If people can donate time and any expertise to this that would be great. I can offer artwork... That's all other then some time. I of corse would donate as well.
Can we put together a group to do this or something? Anybody ?

You do realize that only two Kickstarter projects have raised over $10 million (the minimum we would need to buy Pahonu) and none of the Top 10 projects had anything to do with property (they are all either product design or video games). I hate to be a downer, but I don't think it's going to work my friend. I like your optimism though!

J.J. Walters wrote:You do realize that only two Kickstarter projects have raised over $10 million (the minimum we would need to buy Pahonu) and none of the Top 10 projects had anything to do with property (they are all either product design or video games). I hate to be a downer, but I don't think it's going to work my friend. I like your optimism though!

I wasn't thinking that we could raise 10million. I wanted to start something to maybe join in with a buyer such as "Duke". I may not be buying it but I would love to help fix it up and know I was a part of that.
Any thoughts on that, J.J. Walters?

Anyway, if we use Kickstart or if we search other investors, we need a business plan.

So we should start with reviewing the building ....

sascha2000:

I can appreciate your enthusiasm and respect your willingness to proceed.

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Or a million miles, it's still putting one foot in front of the other. If there were not people in the world that adhere to this philosophy, we would probably still be living in caves and chasing down and killing most of our protein.

There are people all over the globe that know that in order to reach a goal, it has to established, then the steps to reach it must be outlined (at least an "overview") and they are keeping the world moving forward while maintaining the machine that powers it.

I don't even know what "Kickstarter" is, or how to use it to raise money...for ANYTHING...let alone a fund to buy a property that was used in a tv show from 30 years ago. I'm not saying it can't be done, or that it's not a worthy project, only that I personally wouldn't know where to start.

In answer to one of your questions, no I'm not local to any of the islands, have never been there, probably never will get there, but I've entertained the same fantasy as you have presented here.

I could see it working, but it's gonna take a HUGE amount of money, which none of us have, and I doubt anyone who might have it, would be willing to put it into a project like we're talking about.

Some of the problem is, those of us who would enjoy it are not "young" anymore, (most of us), there are not very big numbers involved for those who ARE young that would also enjoy it, so the return is just not there, the situation being what it is today.

On the other hand, with instant global communication, social media, tv, radio, the internet, word of mouth etc., it's been proved that with the right twist, one can promote just about anything that comes to mind. If Magnum PI were to be hyped by these means and the "new" generation were to be won over, whoever put it together could be sitting on a gold mine. I mean Disneyland was just an idea in the beginning! A Magnum movie being made and released with "strategic" timing to having the estate in a ready condition, could be just the "oumph" that would be needed to establish the whole idea as sound and a money maker. Hey!.....stranger things have happened!

One adjoining property, to my understanding, is the Shriners Club, so I'd guess they already have different folks coming and going on a regular basis. Don't know anything about the proximity of hotels/motels in that immediate area, but do know that there are many on the island.

The buildings have been reported to be in a sad state of repair. It's been speculated that the guesthouse will have to raised, and the main house is questionable. The gatehouse seems to be the most stable structure on the estate. Don't know the mechanics of replacing/refurbishing the sea wall, but I would guess that'd probably be a good move initially. One cannot get access to the estate unless it can be substantiated that you would be a series potential buyer, and I, and I'm guessing, no one else here, is in that category, so an in depth inspection is kind of out of reach.

Instead of going on with this discourse, (I think you get the idea), I'll just say, don't give up your dreams. There have always been dreamers...if it weren't for dreamers, we probably wouldn't have cars (especially Ferrari's!), or the telephone, or electricity, or airplanes, etc., etc., etc..

Someone once said, "Life is for putting wings on your dreams.".....never say die! Dream on, cause every once in a while....a dream comes true.

As I said earlier, I could devote some time to "research" etc., but have little else to contribute other than my own dreams. I'd volunteer to be caretaker/manager for a few months a year! I'd also have no problem doing the upkeep on the Ferrari....

Maybe we could talk Bill Gates into buying and renovating it? How about Carol Burnett? She's associated with the show, already has a home on the islands, and I would guess has enough assets to invest. More dreaming, but hey.....what else have some of us got? How about we get the Duck Dynasty boys to spring for it?.........well, on second thought, they might just blow it up for fun!

"It's not that we're "old", we're just not "young" anymore."

ClayMannPi wrote:I wasn't thinking that we could raise 10million. I wanted to start something to maybe join in with a buyer such as "Duke". I may not be buying it but I would love to help fix it up and know I was a part of that.
Any thoughts on that, J.J. Walters?

I think trying to raise "only" one million dollars would be a tall task. And that's just to buy the property. Who's going to pay for the renovations (which would be massive)? Who's going to pay the property taxes? And on and on.

Hello everybody,

has Duke visited the building? Was he inside? He wrote he would tear down it and built it new? Is it in such a worse condition?

As some previous posters mentioned, I don't have so many bugs. And I don't know Mr. Gates or the Quandt Family. So this kind of investors are out.

************************************************************************

However for every project the starting point should be a clear vision or an exact analyses. (Woz + Jobs had a vision for example)
So lets start to change from dreaming now to acting!

At the moment we are in an early phase, step one, and should define the team. As far as I understood we are 3, non locals. We know not enough to proceed.

So who could do what so far:

1)
ClayMannPi
+ spend time
+ artwork
+ ideas

2)
308GUY
+spend time
+critics and analysis
+ideas

3)
Sascha2000
+spend time
+work out business plan
+ideas
+spend some money
+contact seller
+arange date for visiting the robins nest with the seller

Missing:

4)
Mr. or Mrs. X who must be a local.
+ spend some time
+ contact seller
+ visit the building
+ review it from insinde and outside
+ Takes photos from inside and outside to let us analyze the condition
+ Clarify legal issues with authorities

I think if Mr.X/Mrs.X can analyze "what there is", we can make a more realisitc plan how to go on. Either if he or her can only take detailed pictures from inside, the walls and so on it would help a lot.

Upon this data we can start brainstorming how to go on.

So the local person is missing who may spent some time. Concerning travelling costs I may support him/her.
If we got em, I will contact the seller trying to get the OK for a visit. (Is Duke a local?)

SO NOBODY HERE READING THIS IS A LOCALE????

Regards
Sascha

>I think trying to raise "only" one million dollars would be a tall task.

Yes. And we need 10 times more ... just to buy.

However, despite all critics we have 2 possibilities.

1st ---> Try
2nd ---> Do nothing

An we can reach:

* Everything

or

* Nothing

If we got the latter, we have lost some time. Nothing else. So I can go in my garage, repair my Trabant 601 and drive with it through the city like Magnum .... more or less .... 26hp .....
Thats worth it!

So I suggest lets first find out the condition of the property. After that we may try to find a way how to reduce the costs for buying, how to convince investors ... and so on .....

Here's what I believe to be the listing for the estate.

http://www.sothebysrealty.com/eng/sales ... o-hi-96795

As stated before, I'm not in a position to inquire as a potential buyer, but if you know someone with the credentials, and they would inquire on your behalf, you may be able to get further information.

Haven't heard anymore from Duke, but he may be able to shed some light on the situation, going by what he's posted already. He seems to work/dabble, or at least be familiar with, high dollar real estate.

I have a friend who knows about real estate local to him, but he's never dealt with anything on this scale, nor does he share the interest/fervor for the estate as we Magnum fans.

I would agree about having a "business" plan worked out, but nobody is going to talk to you unless you can show them the money.
Just the way the world works, money talks and B.S. walks. I also agree that there are two paths that can be followed, do nothing, try to do something. So in order for this to even be considered a possibility, one of several things must happen.
a) Come into a fortune and be willing to put it into this "project", know an outside party that would be in that position, or b) start an all out "grass roots" (as in don't have anything to work with) campaign to put Magnum on the lips of the majority of people that have access to any form of modern communication. (another side project that takes ca$h.. )
Not trying to dissuade you, or rain on your parade, just interjecting a little of the "reality" of the situation. Without personal or business assets in the millions, nobody is going to take you seriously....sad, but true, unless you are a very gifted "persuader"! In that case, you'll need to spend a lot of time on the phone, or writing letters, or making youtube vids, or something that will have everybody talking about Magnum PI, including those who are in a position to make and release the long awaited, overdue movie....that opens a whole different can of worms.

Hate to be a downer, as I'd love to see this happen as much or maybe more than anybody I can think of, but perhaps, it would be best at this point to just "sleep on it" a while and see if any "revelations" come to you.

I don't know anybody personally on Oahu, but I do know of a couple folks who live on one of the islands or another, just don't know them well, and I'd be hesitant to ask anything of them like we're talking about here.

"Run it up the flagpole, and see who salutes!"

I'll be the first to say I don't think this will work... But if it's a year or 10,20 years from now I'm watching them rip down the house I'm going to look back and be glad I was able to find a few Magnum fans that I was able to try something. If I'm looking back when that day comes thinking I didn't do anything ... Well, that would suck.
I'll read more carefully again what the last reply was but I'm all for doing something over nothing. I don't care if it fails.
Let's get a plan going. I'm going back to Hawaii in April, and I'll do a walk thru if no one can before. I know a couple guys(met thru a friend last trip) who know the owner so I'd have a few months to see if I can get in the estate. Or I can go thru realtor.
We have manetti and his radio show. He can maybe get selleck,cbs. There is turtle bay on the island that has the chopper, they probably would back it or something maybe. The state of Hawaii might help as well.... I really have no idea. Do any of us? I think that's why we should do this. Let's get some answers.
Glass if half full

Hello,

thank you for your feedback.

ClayMannPi you go there in April?

Ok I will contact the seller and ask for a date in April 2015.
Of course he/she maybe someone who expects $1000 for a hello and $1000 for a good bye.
My experience in Europe is, that if you "speak" to the persons in an open way sometimes they open the gate despite they know that the probability to win is 0.1%.

Regards
Sascha

Those are pretty good points ClayMannPi!

1) We have Manetti and his radio show.
2) He can maybe get Selleck,cbs.
3) There is turtle bay on the island that has the chopper, they probably would back it or something maybe.
4) The state of Hawaii might help as well....

Making noise in order to get more attention!

And perhaps we can setup a spendenkonto for the project ..... just to get a basic financial background.


Did someone has contact to Mr. Manetti? Perhaps we ask him first about his opinion about "conserving" Robins Nest and converting it in tourist attraction with a Hotel + Musem + Event + Ferrari renting?