A public foreclosure auction of the partially built Moana Vista condominium tower in Kaka'ako slated for today has been postponed to provide more time for a possible private sale.

The potential buyer isn't being named by parties involved.

An auction could proceed at noon Oct. 2 if no agreement is reached before then, said Sanford Murata, a local real estate consultant appointed by a Circuit Court judge to handle the foreclosure sale.

Developer KC Rainbow II LLC earlier this year had a tentative agreement to sell the stalled project to an affiliate of San Diego-based development firm OliverMcMillan, but the deal unraveled and the roughly 40 percent complete tower makai of McKinley High School was scheduled for auction.

General contractor Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co. initiated the foreclosure in April after it hadn't been paid for $29.5 million of work on the Moana Vista project, which was halted in November. Other subcontractors are owed substantially less money.

Hawaiian Dredging estimates it will take close to $100 million plus the $29.5 million it is owed to complete the 46-story tower with 492 units, including 124 units reserved for residents earning no more than 140 percent of Honolulu's median income.

KC Rainbow, led by high-tech entrepreneur and University of Hawai'i graduate Fred Chan, who successfully developed the nearby twin-tower condo Moana Pacific, ran into trouble after sales reservations fell below a level required to draw on a $100 million construction loan late last year amid a global financial industry meltdown.

Chan's firm had invested most of the roughly $65 million that had financed development of Moana Vista up until November.

About 175 remaining reservations were canceled and deposits are being fully refunded.