Real estate development firm Intracorp San Diego is buying the land and development plans for The Watermark Waikiki, a 212-unit tower permitted for a 3-acre site bordered by Ala Wai Boulevard, Hobron Lane and Lipe'epe'e Street.

The 38-story project is one of several condos planned or under construction in Waikiki, including plans for a Donald Trump-branded tower on Saratoga Road and a project on land under and around the Wave Waikiki nightclub. Nearly complete is Lanikea on Kuhio Avenue, and nearby the low-rise Loft @ Waikiki expects to start coming out of the ground soon.

The Watermark sale, for an undisclosed price, is expected to close by the end of the month.

The seller is Irongate Capital Partners, a Beverly Hills, Calif.-based investment and development firm that bought the property last year for $15.5 million and planned the Watermark.

Sales were scheduled to begin next weekend, with a group of about 30 VIP clients of Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties given the first opportunity to make $50,000 deposits yesterday.

Many of the preferred prospective buyers, like Napa Valley, Calif., librarian Michele Woggon, flew into town for a reception expecting to make reservations.

Woggon said her broker called on Wednesday to say the early opportunity to buy was canceled, though the reception party would go on.

"Rug pulled out of our feet" is how Woggon described the situation. "This was supposed to be some exclusive thing with 30 VIPs," she said. "What are they planning now for people who came all the way here?"

"It's out of Irongate's hands now," said Michael Pepper, an Irongate partner who said the VIP reception wasn't postponed because the deal with Intracorp could have fallen through. Pepper said project brokers were alerted as soon as the deal was assured late Tuesday.

Keith Fernandez, president and chief executive officer of Intracorp San Diego, said he only found out earlier this week about the reservation party, and will try to work with the group.

"Obviously we want them as buyers," he said. "Certainly we're going to want to put them on a very special list because they made the effort to come here. But we will not be taking reservations."

Fernandez said his firm does not plan to make major changes to the project. "Our plan for the most part is to stay with what (Irongate) has done," he said.

Sales will probably be delayed until between mid-August to mid-September, with construction anticipated to start between October and November.

Prices are likely to be from around $700,000 to well over $1 million. "We're just getting into pricing," Fernandez said.

Intracorp San Diego is an urban residential development firm spun off from Canadian resort developer Intrawest Corp., and has sister companies in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Canada.

In late 2003, Intracorp San Diego explored buying a downtown Honolulu block overlooking Honolulu Harbor with the idea to develop a mid- to upper-market condo, but the plan turned out not to be economically feasible.

Fernandez, who joined the firm in 1997, was born in Hawai'i and is a Punahou School graduate who has worked for Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center, Moloka'i Ranch and his own real estate development firm.

Irongate is a private firm with a low profile. The Watermark, previously dubbed The Ala Wai Gateway, was the company's first Hawai'i project.

Earlier this year, Irongate reached a tentative deal to develop a luxury condo with Trump as part of the Waikiki Beach Walk redevelopment by Outrigger Enterprises. That deal is still being finalized.