Posted on: Tuesday, October 1, 2002

Japanese Cultural Center selling Mo'ili'ili building

By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Staff Writer

The Japanese Cultural Center has agreed to sell its Mo'ili'ili building, a solution once seen as extreme but that will allow the nonprofit to pay back $9 million in debt and avoid foreclosure, president Susan Kodani said yesterday.

The center will not yet name the sale price or the buyer because details of the sale are not final, Kodani said.

The center also has not made a decision on where — or whether — to move.

Don Takaki, chairman of the board, said it faces foreclosure by Dec. 31 and for years has had financial problems. "We are still committed to the mission and vision of the center, and we fully intend to continue the center's programs and activities in the community even if the buildings are sold," Takaki said in a statement.

Kodani has been working since July with the newly elected board to come up with a plan for restructuring the center's operations and settling its debt with Central Pacific Bank, First Hawaiian Bank, Bank of Hawai'i and City Bank.

The center, on South Beretania Street, has two towers, one of which is office space.

The center's debt stems from the plan to put up a second building only 11 months after construction of the $4 million first-phase office building was completed in August 1991. Work on the second building for a historical gallery, resource center, banquet hall and parking stalls was completed in late April 1994 at a cost of $10.8 million.

Members of the Japanese Cultural Center will vote on ratification of the sale at a meeting on Oct. 18.