Ownership change for Waikiki’s former Niketown building

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Los Angeles-based developer Robertson Properties Group has purchased the remaining property of the four-story King Kalakaua Plaza building on the Ewa end of Waikiki that used to house such tenants as Niketown, Banana Republic and Official All Star Cafe for $10 million, according to public records.

Robertson Properties, which is owned by Decurion Corp. which also owns Pacific Theatres, ArcLight Cinemas and Hollybrook Senior Living, already owned a majority of the property.

Its latest purchase from Honolulu development and investment company Oceanfront Hawaii Inc., headed by Atsushi Takebayashi, includes a 6,711-square-foot parcel of land at the 2080 Kalakaua Ave. site.

That parcel has a total assessed value of about $3.1 million, according to tax records.

The building opened to much fanfare in 1998, but has remained vacant since its last remaining tenant, Niketown, closed in 2009, although the ground floor space is being utilized as a sales center for the nearby Ritz-Carlton Residences, Waikiki Beach condominium-hotel project.

The complex cost $45 million to build and was a joint venture between Honolulu’s the Honu Group and Lehman Brothers, which financed the project.

Lehman foreclosed on the project in 2006 and sought $79 million in principal, interest and penalties, though Lehman was also the majority owner of the project.

In 2010, Robertson Properties, the landowner, took control of the building and owned a majority of the property up until this recent acquisition from Oceanfront Hawaii.

The Los Angeles developer also has plans to redevelop the site of the former Kamehameha Drive-In across from Pearlridge shopping center in Aiea in Central Oahu into a mixed-use project.

PBN has reached out to Robertson Properties for comment.

Duane Shimogawa
Reporter
Pacific Business News

Former First Hawaiian Bank CEO to develop Denny’s restaurant near Honolulu Zoo

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A rendering of Diamond Head Denny's in Waikiki. Don Horner, the former CEO of First

A rendering of Diamond Head Denny’s in Waikiki. Don Horner, the former CEO of First

Don Horner, the former CEO of First Hawaiian Bank, is developing a 5,000-square-foot Denny’s restaurant on a vacant parcel in Waikiki across from the Honolulu Zoo, he confirmed to PBN.

Horner, who retired as CEO of First Hawaiian Bank in 2012, told PBN Tuesday that a lease has been signed with a franchisee of Denny’s, and that the new 200-seat restaurant will be called “Diamond Head Denny’s.”

“The Hawaiian design will incorporate a tile roof, stucco finish exteriors, abundant landscaping, tiki torches, outdoor seating, bike racks, surf board storage for employees and 12 on-site parking stalls,” he said. “The interiors will have an ‘old Hawaii’ surfing theme, using local art and textures.”

Horner noted that the space will also include a 40- to 50-seat banquet room with state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment to be used for birthday parties, local civic clubs, condominium board meetings and other meetings.

“The objective is to create a casual, family-dining experience for both locals and visitors,” he said. “The operator is considering validating 1-2 hours of parking at the city’s zoo parking lot across the street to encourage local families’ patronage.”

The new restaurant will include outdoor seating for 40 and is expected to employ more than 30 people.

Horner anticipates interviewing contractors to work on the project in the next 120 days, with an opening date tentatively scheduled for sometime in 2016. His firm purchased the land at the corner of Kuhio and Kapahulu avenues last year.

Tom Schnell, principal for Honolulu-based PBR Hawaii & Associates Inc., is expected to present plans on the project at the Sept. 8 Waikiki Neighborhood Board meeting.

The franchisee for Diamond Head Denny’s is Medhat Bechay, who owns about 16 Denny’s franchises, mostly in California. He also owns two franchises on Oahu, with one in Kunia in West Oahu and another in Kaneohe at the Windward City Shopping Center.

Horner formed Malu Investment I LLC about three years ago for the purchase of the long-vacant 13,461-square-foot property at 208 Kapahulu Ave., which is next to the Makee Ailana condominium (former Scandia), as first reported by PBN.

Duane Shimogawa
Reporter
Pacific Business News

Park Shore Waikiki Hotel goes on the market for undisclosed price

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The Park Shore Waikiki Hotel is on the market for an undisclosed price, according to a listing from CBRE Hawaii Inc., which is marketing the sale of the leasehold property.

The 221-room, 18-story hotel at 2586 Kalakaua Ave., which was built in 1968, includes 17,661 square feet of commercial space.

Honolulu-based Sasada International LLC, whose chairman is Masanori Sasada, owns the hotel at the corner of Kalakaua and Kapahulu avenues across from the Honolulu Zoo.

Honolulu-based CunhaAina LLC, which has ties to the Bishop Trust Co. Ltd., owns the 39,616 square feet of land that the hotel sits on.

The Park Shore Waikiki Hotel is currently being managed by Aqua Hospitality LLC.

The sales listing notes that significant renovations “will provide the foundation to reposition the hotel as an upscale property with higher level of service, room condition and guest amenities enabling the property to attract a more sophisticated traveler willing to pay a higher room rate than what is currently generated.”

ISasada International purchased the hotel from Blackstone Group for $56.1 million in 2007, according to public records.

Blackstone inherited the Park Shore, which is anchored by Lulu’s Surf Club Waikiki Beach, when it acquired Wyndham International Inc. in 2005.

At the time, the company decided to combine 14 Wyndham properties with seven other hotels and resorts that Blackstone already owned to form LXR Luxury Resorts.

Patriot American Hospitality Inc., a Dallas-based investment trust, bought the Park Shore for $24 million from Japan-based Universal Express (Hawaii) Inc. in 1997. The Japan firm had bought the hotel, once managed by Aston Hotels & Resorts, in 1973 for $5.8 million.

Duane Shimogawa
Reporter
Pacific Business News

Equus Hotel in Waikiki on the market for $22M

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The Equus Hotel in Waikiki, a family-owned and operated boutique condominium-hotel with ties to the Hawaii Polo Club, is on the market for $22 million, according to a listing with CBRE Inc. Hawaii.

The 72-room hotel, which is located at 1696 Ala Moana Blvd., is owned by the Dailey family’s Hawaii Polo Inn LLC.

Mike Dailey, president of Equus Hotel, also heads up the Hawaii Polo Club on Oahu’s North Shore.

In December, the Equus Hotel was rebranded as The Equus, an Ascend Collection member, as part of Choice Hotels International Inc.’s network of unique, boutique or historic independent hotels.

The property includes a 27,476-square-foot building on 0.16 acres.

Duane Shimogawa
Pacific Business News

Honolulu’s University Square mixed-use center for sale with redevelopment opportunity

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University Square, a 40,412-square-foot mixed-use center near the University of Hawaii at Manoa, is on the market either as a leasehold or fee simple sale, with the opportunity to redevelop the property for retail, office or residential use, the firm marketing the property confirmed to PBN.

The owners of the land include Emily Moriyama Trust, M Ishii Inc. and Tatsumi Matsumoto Trust, with CPB Properties Inc. as the owner of the building.

CPB Properties includes former Central Pacific Bank executive Naoaki Shibuya and Austin Imamura, CEO of Pacific Rim Bank, which is merging with California’s First Foundation Bank.

JLL, which is marketing the property for the owners, noted that University Square is first being offered as a long-term ground lease, and secondly as a fee-simple sale for $12.5 million.

The total assessed value of the property, which consists of 35,225-square-feet of land and is located at 2615 S. King St., is about $10.2 million, according to tax records.

Built in 1957 at the corner of University Avenue and King Street in the Honolulu neighborhood of Moiliili, the property has an occupancy rate of 81 percent and is currently under a long-term ground lease, which is set to expire at the end of the year.

The new ground lessee may choose to re-tenant the building or redevelop the site into other uses, including residential, office or retail.

Central Pacific Bank, Purple Yoga and Golden Dynasty Chinese Restaurant are some of the tenants at University Square.

Duane Shimogawa
Pacific Business News

Bank of Hawaii Waikiki Center sold for $38M

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bank-of-hawaii-centerbuilding-304xx387-581-0-10Japan’s Shoei USA Inc., a helmet manufacturer, paid $37.75 million in the leasehold purchase of the iconic Bank of Hawaii Waikiki Center, according to public records.

Up until now, the sales price of the 153,059-square-foot, nine-story building at 2155 Kalakaua Ave. — which includes a mix of office and retail tenants, including Bank of Hawaii, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, JTB Hawaii and 7-Eleven and soon-to-be Waikiki’s first Longs Drugs store — was unknown.

The previous owners, Honolulu-based Pacific Office Properties Trust Inc. (Other OTC: PCFO) and a group of Mainland investors, quietly put the center on the market for $38 million in 2012.

The land is still owned by the Lahaina, Maui-based company, Kapuahelani, which lists the Barbara McNamara Trust, Florence Thomas and Melissa Raymond as partners of the firm, according to public records.

Honolulu’s NAI ChaneyBrooks represented the buyer in the sale.

The property was built in 1980 as a retail center that was anchored by Japan’s Mitsukoshi Department Store. In 1989, it was acquired and redeveloped into a mixed-use office and retail center and was known as the ANA Building.

Pacific Office Properties purchased it in February 2007.

Duane Shimogawa Reporter – Pacific Business News

Ala Moana Center’s $573M redevelopment in pictures

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Ala Moana Center, Hawaii’s largest shopping mall, is undergoing one of its biggest transformations in its more than 50-year history, which includes adding about 340,000 square feet of new retail space in the former Sears space.

The new Ewa wing will include between 65 and 75 new stores, including Hawaii’s first Bloomingdale’s department store and Nordstrom, which is being relocated from the other end of the mall.

A senior director of development for Chicago-based General Growth Properties Inc. (NYSE: GGP), the owner of Ala Moana Center, recently said at an industry event in Honolulu that the completion of the $573.2 million redevelopment is anticipated for November 2015.

The Ewa wing also will include a $1 billion luxury residential development called Park Lane Ala Moana, which is being developed by Honolulu’s The MacNaughtonn Group and Kobayashi Group, as well as local investment firm BlackSand Capital and GGP.

The seven eight-story buildings, which will include 215 total units, are expected to be done by 2016.

Duane Shimogawa Reporter – Pacific Business News

California family buys Starbucks-anchored Kapolei Parkway Shops for $13.8M

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The Kapolei Parkway Shops, which includes Starbucks, Jamba Juice and Taco Del Mar in a 21,167-square-foot building, has been sold to a California family that has significant real estate holdings in the Western United States, including Hawaii, for $13.8 million, according to public records.

The seller, Honolulu-based KBSM LLC, an affiliate of The MacNaughton Group, through one of its partners, told PBN that periodically it elects to sell some of its development properties based on a number of factors.

“Nothing out of the ordinary drove our decision to sell this property,” said Jeff Arce, partner for the Honolulu-based firm. “The proceeds from this sale will be reinvested by its investors into the future investment opportunities.”

Mark Bratton, vice president and division manager of Investment Properties for Colliers International Hawaii, represented the seller in the transaction.

Jon-Eric Greene, senior vice president also of Colliers, who represented the unnamed buyer, said that they were looking for western properties to invest in.

“They’re a family from California that has other holdings in Hawaii,” he told PBN. “They have Big Island properties that they own.”

Greene noted that no changes are expected at the Kapolei Parkway Shops, which is located at 338 Kamokila Blvd. directly in front of The Home Depot and across the street from the Hawaii state Judiciary complex.

The total assessed value of the property is about $7.2 million, according to tax records.

“Generally, things in Hawaii are healthy at the moment,” Greene said referring to the investment market.

Duane Shimogawa Reporter – Pacific Business News

DeBartolo Development signs lease for new West Oahu shopping mall

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This rendering shows an aerial view of DeBartolo Development's Ka Makana Alii, looking makai.

This rendering shows an aerial view of DeBartolo Development’s Ka Makana Alii, looking makai.

DeBartolo Development has formally started its 65-year lease with the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands of a 67-acre site in West Oahu for a long-planned 1.4-million-square-foot, $500 million shopping mall, with work beginning immediately to prepare the site for construction of the first phase of the mall, the Florida-based firm said Monday.

The long-term lease for the Ka Makana Alii mall is expected to generate more than $200 million in rent revenue that will support the construction of thousands of new homes for Hawaiian homesteaders, as well as programs benefiting Native Hawaiian interests across the state, the developer said.

Thus far, DeBartolo Development has announced four tenants, Macy’s, as an anchor, Forever 21’s fifth Hawaii store, an AT&T location and H&M’s second store in the state.

The project is expected to create about 3,000 construction jobs and another 6,500 permanent full-time jobs upon completion.

The developer also plans to build a public community park in the Kanehili Homestead area as part of the community’s benefits package that it negotiated with the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

“We have worked closely together with DHHL to ensure this project delivers lasting value to not only the Native Hawaiian community, but also the residents of West Oahu,” Edward Kobel, president and COO of DeBartolo Development, said in a statement. “The long-term lease of the Ka Makana Alii site will create a dependable revenue stream for native Hawaiian beneficiaries for decades to come.”

Grading and grubbing activities are slated to begin this month, with a formal construction start date to be announced soon thereafter.

The first phase of the center, which includes more than 750,000-square-feet of retail, dining, entertainment and hotel space, is scheduled to open in 2016.

Duane Shimogawa Reporter – Pacific Business News

Waikiki Landing developer secures new funding for $31M Ala Wai harbor project

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This rendering shows a view of the Waikiki Landing project from Ala Moana Boulevard heading toward Waikiki. The developer's attorney told PBN that the $31 million project has received a funding commitment from a new investor

This rendering shows a view of the Waikiki Landing project from Ala Moana Boulevard heading toward Waikiki. The developer’s attorney told PBN that the $31 million project has received a funding commitment from a new investor

The long-planned $31 million Waikiki Landing project at Hawaii’s Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor, which lost its funding several months ago, has received a new funding commitment from another investor, the project developer’s attorney told PBN.

The project includes wedding chapels, restaurants, retail and office space and a boat-repair facility and fuel dock. The most recent estimate had construction starting in late September with a completion date of late November 2015. No new timeline for construction has been set yet.

Keith Kiuchi, the attorney for developer Japan-based Honey Bee USA, confirmed to PBN that the developer has received a signed letter of intent from an investor, and that the letter has been presented to the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, the project’s landlord.

Kiuchi declined to say who the investor is, although DLNR will be holding a hearing on Nov. 14 to talk about the project’s new investor.

“That hearing will include both the equity investor as well as the funding vehicle [the lender],” he said. “We have a letter of intent from the investor and two separate term sheets from two separate lenders. So we believe we have an equity investor, but we’re looking carefully at the two term sheets.”

Kiuchi has said it received lease approval from the DLNR, which owns the land, on Dec. 6, 2013, and has received all of its necessary permits to start construction.

Duane Shimogawa Reporter – Pacific Business News