Hawai'i County to sell foreclosed Nansay property

By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — Hawai'i County has set a Sept. 14 foreclosure sale for the former Nansay Hawai'i property in Kona after the owner failed to meet yesterday's deadline for paying $3.88 million in delinquent property taxes.

County Finance Director William Takaba last week sent a letter to Kennedy-Wilson International of Beverly Hills, Calif., demanding immediate payment of no less than $2 million to avoid foreclosure. Takaba had rejected a proposal by Mary Ricks, Kennedy-Wilson's managing director, to pay off the tax debt over a five-year period.

Ricks was not available to comment yesterday.

Kennedy-Wilson became the deed holder of the land following Nansay's bankruptcy in 1995.

The former Nansay property, planned for resort and golf development, is north of Kailua, Kona, on 445 acres near Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park. It remains undeveloped.

The property was at the center of a landmark court case that established the right of Native Hawaiians to go onto undeveloped private property for traditional gathering, cultural and religious purposes.

Gary Kiyota, Big Island real property tax administrator, said the $3.88 million owed by the landowner is the largest single tax debt he has seen in his 25 years with the Finance Department.

The county developed its current budget based on collecting the delinquent tax amount. That could be difficult, because the land is the subject of a title dispute still in the courts.