Marks Estate to be auctioned
By Adrienne Ancheta
Advertiser Staff Writer
The long uninhabited Marks Estate in Nu'uanu will remain under state ownership for several months more before another auction of the property will take place, according to Department of Transportation officials.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
After a public auction on March 2000 did not draw a bid, the department announced in June that it would attempt another auction of the property some time this year. However, modifications to the auction package and new Department of Land and Natural Resources regulations giving it authority over auctions have delayed another try to sell the Marks Estate, said department spokeswoman Marilyn Kali.
The Marks Estate will be put up for auction again by the Department of Transportation before the end of the year.
"All [the DOT] is doing is getting documentation ready," Kali said. Once the department has all documentation, it will be up to the DLNR to determine an actual date for the next auction, she said.
The property was offered for auction last year with the minimum bid at $3.25 million. The department has been trying to sell the property since 1996.
"We'd like to see an auction by the end of the year," Kali said.
The 17-acre estate at 3860 Old Pali Road was owned by Alfred Lester and Elizabeth McCandless Marks. The state bought seven acres of the Markses' land in 1956 for $625,750 to complete the Pali Highway. Two acres of the land were used for the highway and the remaining five held the house and accompanying buildings.
After Elizabeth Marks was evicted from the house in the mid-'70s, the house was used as a think tank for the Hawai'i Institute for Management and Analysis of Government until 1990.
