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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, July 10, 2009

Cedar Grove acquires 146 acres


BY Rick Daysog
Advertiser Staff Writer

A company headed by local businessman Clyde Kaneshiro has acquired 146 acres of former pineapple land in Central O'ahu from the George Galbraith Trust.

Kaneshiro's Cedar Grove Hawaii LLC paid more than $3.8 million for the property in March, state land records show.

Kaneshiro, who heads Honolulu Recovery Systems, did not return calls yesterday.

The trust, which was set up in 1904 by cattle rancher George Galbraith, is in the process of liquidating its assets.

Its trustee, the Bank of Hawaii, is in the process of selling off the trust's remaining 1,800 acres.

In December, the estate sold 150 acres to local attorney Howard Green's Sustainable Hawaii LLC.

The George Galbraith Trust is a $90 million private trust to benefit Galbraith's heirs.

Under the terms of Galbraith's will, the bank began liquidating the trust's assets several years ago

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.

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

But those values have declined in wake of the turmoil in the nation's financial markets and the slowdown in Hawai'i's economy.

Most of the Galbraith property had been leased to Del Monte Fresh Produce, which announced in 2006 that it was getting out of the pineapple-growing business in Hawai'i.