Efforts to sell the George Galbraith Trust's 2,100 acres in Central O'ahu have fallen through.

Bank of Hawaii, which serves as the trustee of the estate, said it canceled negotiations with the buyer, Waialua 86, which outbid several investment groups in January for the former pineapple lands.

The bank said it plans to relist the property.

"Over the past months, the trustee had been engaged in an extended effort to finalize contract terms with a potential buyer," Bank of Hawaii spokesman Stafford Kiguchi said.

"However, with the addition of recent, unexpected new terms from the buyer, the trustee determined it would be in the best interest of the trust to terminate negotiations."

Kiguchi would not say what the new terms were.

Gerald Wong, managing agent for Waialua 86, declined comment.

Robert Hastings, president of the local real estate appraisal firm of Hastings Conboy Braig & Associates Ltd., believes it will be harder to sell the property today than it was a year ago due to the recent turmoil in the financial markets.

"The problem with the capital markets makes it much more difficult to finance something like this," Hastings said.

"Two or three years ago, there were a number of wealthy investors who would buy land to hold. There still may be people like that around, but there aren't as many today."

Most of the Galbraith property — which lies adjacent to Wahiawa and four miles north of Mililani town — was leased to Del Monte Fresh Produce, which announced last year that it was getting out of the pineapple-growing business in Hawai'i.

The land does not include Poamoho Camp, which was acquired by local developer Peter Savio, who in turn sold individual lots to former Del Monte pineapple workers.

When first listed in 2005, the Galbraith lands were expected to fetch between $30 million and $50 million, local real estate experts have said.

Waialua 86's managers include Mainland investor David Chang, who heads CCL Holdings (USA) Ltd.

CCL is part of a family of companies that includes shipping interests in Hong Kong and a Southern California residential developer.

CCL once owned the Ko'olau Golf Course and clubhouse before selling it to First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu about a year ago for $20.5 million.

CCL acquired the Ko'olau Golf Course for $12 million in a 1997 foreclosure sale.

The George Galbraith Trust is a $90 million private trust set up in 1904 to benefit the heirs of cattle rancher George Galbraith. Galbraith came to Hawai'i from Ireland in the mid-1800s on his way to the California Gold Rush.

But he ended up staying here and later acquired the Central O'ahu properties.

Under the terms of Galbraith's will, the trust began termination proceedings this year. Those proceedings will include the eventual liquidation of the estate's stock and bond holdings and the sale of its real estate.

Proceeds from the liquidation are to be divided among Galbraith's more than 600 beneficiaries, who are scattered throughout Hawai'i, the Mainland, Canada, Australia and Ireland.

Reach Rick Daysog at rdaysog@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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