Alexander & Baldwin Inc. has sold two neighborhood shopping centers on Maui for $28.5 million to an affiliate of California-based Festival Cos.

A&B sold the 45,200-square-foot Napili Plaza and 35,000-square-foot Fairway Shops at Ka'anapali to Festival Retail Fund 1, an investment fund Festival Cos. established in January with a goal to spend $800 million buying U.S. retail centers over three years.

Festival Cos. is largely a developer of shopping centers, and in 2004 it was hired to operate Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center under owner Kamehameha Schools and manage the Waikiki mall's $84 million renovation, which is now nearing completion.

Honolulu-based A&B is Hawai'i's fourth-largest private landowner with about 90,000 acres of mostly agricultural property and is largely engaged in sugar and coffee production, urban development and commercial real estate investing. The company also owns Matson Navigation Co.

After selling the two Maui retail centers, A&B still has major commercial property holdings on Maui, including retail complexes Maui Mall and Kahului Shopping Center.

A&B developed the Fairway Shops at Ka'anapali, a resort retail project, in 2001 on land leased from The Gutman Realty Co.

A&B bought Napili Plaza in 2003 for $7.1 million from another major Valley Isle landowner, Maui Land & Pineapple Co., which built the retail complex between Ka'anapali and Kapalua resorts in 1991.

Since 1999, A&B has invested more than $670 million in 25 Hawai'i properties outside its historic holdings. The company's commercial property portfolio comprises roughly 5.2 million square feet of retail, office and industrial space in Hawai'i and on the Mainland.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.