Kaka'ako land parcels bought
By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer
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| Nauru Phosphate Royalties (Honolulu) Development Inc., which built the Nauru Tower, has sold nearby property to a Miami-based development firm.
Advertiser library photo |
The deal was completed earlier this week for an estimated $20 million. D. Scott MacKinnon, a Honolulu attorney representing the seller, a Republic of Nauru trust doing business as Nauru Phosphate Royalties (Honolulu) Development Inc., confirmed the sale.
Crescent Heights representatives could not be reached earlier this week because their offices have been closed for a holiday.
But the company has indicated to the state that it plans to proceed as quickly as possible with development of the two properties acquired in the purchase.
The plans would restart Nauru Phosphate's stalled five-tower master-planned project that includes the blue-glass-sided luxury Hawaiki and Nauru towers and the "affordable" 1133 Waimanu building.
It is unclear whether Crescent Heights intends to use approved development permits of Nauru Phosphate, which had been trying to move ahead with an estimated $110 million tower called Hokuloa, where unit prices ranged from $550,000 to $575,000.
Financial troubles of Nauru Phosphate stalled Hokuloa, which had been scheduled to break ground in late 2001. For at least a year, the developer had been seeking a partner or someone to buy the two parcels and development rights.
Crescent Heights is a closely held private firm that has sold more than 15,000 condominiums for a combined $3 billion-plus in cities from New York to West Hollywood.
Some local developers suspect Crescent Heights could begin construction before the end of the year unless Nauru Phosphate's development plan is drastically altered.
A Crescent Heights condo developed on the site once known as 404 Pi'ikoi just 'ewa of Ala Moana Center would join a neighboring project, Hokua, under joint development by The MacNaughton Group, Kobayashi Group and Alexander & Baldwin.
Hokua is planned as a $210 million, 40-story condo at the corner of Queen Street and Ala Moana at the diamondhead end of Victoria Ward Centres in Kaka'ako. To date, developers have 227 sales contracts for 247 units at prices between $535,000 and $5.5 million. The tower is expected to be completed in late 2005.
Nauru Phosphate purchased the 18-acre site bordered by Ala Moana, Pi'ikoi and Waimanu streets from Dillingham Corp. for $43 million in 1984. It completed Nauru Tower in 1991, followed by 1133 Waimanu in 1996. Hawaiki construction started in 1993, but was halted three years to wait out a market slump and was completed in 1999.
The government of Nauru, an 8-square-mile island nation that made and largely lost a fortune in phosphorus mining, has been under pressure by the U.S. government to combat suspected money laundering.
Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department threatened to cut off Nauru's financial institutions from the U.S. banking system under the 2001 USA Patriot Act.
MacKinnon said Nauru Phosphate is a trust autonomous from the government, and therefore shouldn't be affected if the U.S. imposes sanctions. Nauru Phosphate's only other Hawai'i holdings are a Nauru Tower commercial unit and associated parking spaces for sale.
Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8065.
