By Glenn Scott
Advertiser Staff Writer
Ho‘omau Ranch, the 1,500 acres of South Kona pasture and trees formerly owned by actor James Stewart, is back on the market after the high bidder at a splashy December auction failed to follow through on the purchase.
Bidding by telephone, Guy Cobb of Hemet, Calif., offered $7.4 million at a Dec. 14 event held by The National Auction Group Inc. of Gadsden, Ala. He beat out 13 other bidders, including several from Hawai‘i who appeared at the auction in person. But Big Island brokers said yesterday that Cobb, who has had medical problems, did not put together the financing to close the deal.
"It’s clear he’s not going to do the transaction," said Kevin McCabe, a RE/MAX broker in Kailua-Kona representing owner Thomas Atwood of Sacramento.
McCabe, who is not associated with the auction company, said he is eschewing another auction and taking direct offers for the ranch, which he values at $7.5 million.
Stewart and wife Gloria purchased the ranch in 1958 after a honeymoon in Hawai‘i. After her death in 1994 and his death three years later, the Stewart Trust sold the the ranch to Atwood for $3.5 million.
McCabe said Atwood, an investor, made several improvements to the picturesque ranch in the coastal uplands reaching 3,500-foot elevation above the Mamalahoa Belt Road.
The ranch features 200 head of purebred Black Angus cattle, including grand champion bull Appleland Keystone V, which McCabe said had been in a Stewart movie.
