Three golf courses sold
By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer
Local developer Bert A. Kobayashi has purchased the Mililani, Pukalani and Kiahuna golf courses on O'ahu, Maui and Kaua'i, and will continue operating the courses with current employees.
The three-course acquisition may be part of a bigger deal involving the purchase of two Waikiki hotels, the 314-room Queen Kapi'olani Hotel and 450-room Ocean Resort Hotel Waikiki, also owned by Tokyo-based Sports Shinko.
On Friday, Sports Shinko notified the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations that it would terminate all 167 employees at the three courses, without explanation.
Kobayashi, principal owner of the real estate development and consulting firm Kobayashi Development Group LLC, issued a statement yesterday acknowledging his purchase of the courses, and a spokesperson said it is possible the company will buy the two hotels.
According to Kobayashi Development officials, the transition should be complete by the end of March, and golf course operations will continue as usual. No layoffs are being considered, the company stated.
Kobayashi, through KG Holdings LLC, paid $12.4 million for the golf courses, which include developable lands of about 90 acres adjacent to Kiahuna Golf Club on Kaua'i's south shore and about 30 acres adjacent to Pukalani Golf Club on the slopes of Maui's Haleakala.
There are no current plans to develop the Kaua'i and Maui properties, said Wayne Tanigawa, a Kobayashi Development official and KG Holdings director of operations.
Sports Shinko, mainly an operator of golf courses in Japan, entered the Hawai'i resort property market during the Japanese investment boom of the late 1980s, spending roughly $164 million for the three golf courses and three Waikiki hotels.
Last March, it sold the 59-unit leasehold Diamond Head Beach Hotel for $4.5 million to local developer Peter Savio. Around the same time, the company listed the Pukalani and Kiahuna golf courses for sale, but said it would retain ownership of its other assets.
According to local brokers, the Mililani Golf Club and Queen Kapi'olani and Ocean Resort hotels have since been put quietly on the market. The hotels are leasehold properties, however, with short leases that have made them difficult to sell.
If completed, the five-property transaction would mark a complete sell-off of Hawai'i assets by Sports Shinko, which also has been divesting its Mainland real estate assets. In October the company sold its La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif., and is negotiating to sell the Grenelefe Golf & Tennis Resort in Orlando, Fla.
Kobayashi said in the statement he would try to increase the customer base for all three of the private golf courses, which are open to the public on a pay-for-play basis and had been catering to Japanese tourists as well.
"We believe strongly in Hawai'i's prospects for economic recovery, and that now is the right time to diversify by moving into the tourism and recreation industries," Kobayashi said.
The University of Hawai'i regent and former chief executive of the construction firm Albert C. Kobayashi Inc was part of a group that tried unsuccessfully to purchase Aloha Tower Marketplace from the Japanese mortgage holder in 1997. He has been involved in partnerships to build homes, schools and the state office building in Kapolei.
Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8065.
