Posted on: Friday, March 18, 2005
No more space at Alakea Tower
By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer
Alexander & Baldwin Inc. has completed its floor-by-floor sale of the downtown Honolulu office high-rise Alakea Corporate Tower, two years after it bought the half-empty building formerly known as 1100 Alakea.
A&B bought the 170,000-square-foot tower in March 2003 for $20 million from Toa Kogyo Co. Ltd., a Tokyo-based company that developed the building in 1993.
"We believed that conversion condominiums would provide a rare opportunity for downtown professionals to purchase their own office space," said Mike Wright, A&B Properties senior vice president of investments and acquisitions. "We knew the interest rate environment was very favorable, and we knew there was an unmet need in the market."
Twenty-nine businesses bought space in the building, from a half floor to more than one floor. Of the buyers, 18 occupy their space. Others bought and lease out their space.
Buyers include AM Partners, Barnwell Industries, Cavanah Associates, Cutter Management, Dorvin D. Leis Co., Jeff Long and Associates, Kobayashi Group, Ko Olina Ocean Marina Estates, Stanford Carr Development and Queen Liliuokalani Trust.
Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8065.
The company, through subsidiary A&B Properties Inc., transformed 31 floors of office space formerly leased to tenants into fee-simple office condominiums that sold for an average of more than $1 million per floor, or a total of about $33 million.
