BUSINESS BRIEFS
Downtown parking most expensive
Advertiser Staff and News Services
Downtown Honolulu has the most-expensive median daily parking rate among 53 U.S. cities studied in a new survey.
The report by Colliers International, a commercial real estate company, found it cost $44 a day to park Downtown, topping such areas as New York's Midtown Manhattan and Chicago.
Honolulu's rate was up from last year's $32 rate that Colliers found and almost three times the national average of $15.42.
Local parking rates fared better when compared on a monthly basis, though, with Honolulu ranking ninth-highest among the U.S. cities reviewed.
Colliers said the monthly median parking rate was $216 for Downtown Honolulu. That compared with the nation's highest rate of $585 found in Midtown Manhattan.
LONGS DRUG SALES ROSE IN JUNE
Longs Drug Stores Corp., the California-based chain that is the biggest drug store operator in Hawai'i, reported sales at stores open at least a year rose in June as an increase in pharmacy sales offset a slight decline in merchandise.
The company said same-store sales rose 1.1 percent during the period as pharmacy sales grew 2.6 percent and front-of-the-store sales declined 0.4 percent. The retailer noted sales were hurt by people switching from brand-name drugs to new generics that became available and was helped by the inclusion of Memorial Day in the fiscal period compared to a year earlier.
$7.1M GOES TO KONA AIRPORT PARKING
A planned expansion of parking at Kona International Airport moved a step closer as Gov. Linda Lingle yesterday announced the release of $7.1 million for the project.
The project provides an additional 563 public and employee parking spaces at the West Hawai'i airport.
The money will be used to expand the lot — the original employee parking lot — by adding 392 public parking stalls. This phase of the project includes resurfacing the main terminal parking lot and entry area, and other related improvements such as landscaping, lighting, installing concrete curbs and pedestrian walkways.
The project will also include expanding the Road N lot, by an additional 171 stalls. When the project is complete it will have 1,813 public and employee parking stalls — 1,279 for public use and 534 reserved for airport and airline employees.
The parking improvements are part of the administration's 12-year, $2.3 billion statewide airports modernization plan, which is paid for by airport fees and federal money — not state general funds.
COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE STRONG
Honolulu tied for first in a ranking by Moody's Investors Service of the strongest U.S. commercial real estate markets during the second quarter. On a scale of 0 to 100, Honolulu and New York were given a score of 79 during the April-to-June period.
Honolulu's rank was up two from the first quarter, and New York moved up by one. Los Angeles was third with a score of 75, which was down five. The worst market was Jacksonville, Fla., at 30. Moody's gave the country a composite score of 64, down five from the first quarter.
CHAMINADE GETS $100,000 DONATION
The First Hawaiian Bank Foundation has pledged a $100,000 grant to Chaminade University to help with the school's expansion of its Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.
Chaminade said the grant will be given over a four-year period and help upgrade and expand laboratories, classrooms, faculty offices and other areas.
