Sunset Management LLC, a Las Vegas firm, recently filed a foreclosure suit in state Circuit Court claiming that Tatibouet defaulted on a $1 million mortgage.

ResortQuest International Inc., which bought Aston from Tatibouet in 1998, said in a regulatory filing yesterday that Tatibouet missed a July 1 interest payment of $132,000 on a $4 million loan secured by Tatibouet's Noela Place residence and that it plans to make its own foreclosure claim.

Central Pacific Bank also has a $4.9 million mortgage on the property, according to ResortQuest's filing, though the bank said in response to Sunset's lawsuit that it preferred the suit be dismissed.

Tatibouet, in a court filing, denied Sunset's claims, saying the allegations of default were based on a misinterpretation or mischaracterization of loan documents.

Yesterday, Tatibouet added in an interview that he and Sunset are negotiating a resolution.

"We expect to have this straightened out fairly quickly," he said.

ANDRE TATIBOUET

In May, The Queen Emma Foundation, which owns the land under Tatibouet's Aston Coral Reef Hotel in Waikiki, sued Tatibouet to block his plan to sell hotel units as leasehold residential condominiums.

In June, Mainland lenders filed a foreclosure suit against Tatibouet, claiming he defaulted on an $8.4 million loan related to Tatibouet's Aston Waikiki Beachside Hotel.

Both suits are pending. The most recent suit aims to acquire and sell at auction Tatibouet's residence, known as Pualeilani, an 18,000-square-foot mansion designed to resemble Lana'i's Lodge at Koele.

The home, completed in 2001, has been a money pit for Tatibouet and his wife, Jane, according to a lawsuit they filed in March against the project's Honolulu-based architect, Group 70 International.

According to that suit, the Tatibouets hired Lodge at Koele designer Group 70, agreeing to pay the firm $250,000 for design, construction document preparation and inspection work.

The Tatibouet suit alleges that Group 70 failed to obtain design and construction approvals, causing project delays and "enormous" cost overruns.

According to city Building Department records, the value of construction for Pualeilani was $3.8 million. The land under the home is valued by the city at another $3.4 million.

Beside cost overruns, the Tatibouets allege in the suit that the home has numerous defects that have resulted in stress and hardship of "nightmarish proportion."

Among the alleged defects are inoperable exterior elevator doors, incorrect indoor paint, dysfunctional attic fans and a lack of hot water for showering.

The Tatibouets said the problems presented "enormous ongoing stress" and were a factor in Jane Tatibouet suffering a ruptured cranial aneurysm.