Amfac/JMB selling
huge Kauai tract
It is asking $19.5 million
From staff and wire reports
for 6,700 acres stretching from
mountain to oceanLIHUE -- An entire ahupuaa is up for sale. Amfac/JMB Hawaii Inc. is asking $19.5 million for about 6,700 acres or one-quarter of its Kauai holdings.
The company is selling the former sugar land to earn money to pay down debts due to a decline in land values, said broker Debra Blachowiak who is in charge of the Amfac sale.
Real estate marketing materials state that purchasers of the ahupuaa, which is what native Hawaiians call land that extends from the mountain to the ocean, can be ecotourism operators or diversified agricultural farmers.
Major developers and resort owners also can look into the purchase, but they would have to go through extensive state and county permitting processes to buy the land and get the zoning changed for development.
The tropical hardwood timber industry is already showing interest in the property, Blachowiak said.
The area up for sale is the least profitable of Amfac's land holdings because it is the farthest away from the company's sugar mill, Blachowiak said.
"This is an extremely rare opportunity, especially on a small island like Kauai," she said.
The ahupuaa is being sold in its entirety or in parcels. Parcels range in size from 1,100 acres to 2,500 acres and range in price from $2.5 million to $3.9 million. "Amfac would prefer to sell to one buyer," she said.
The company is also offering to sell 1,900 acres in Kapaa.
Amfac's sugar land near Lihue's Airport is still up for development by the company, said Tamara Edwards, president of Amfac's Land Co. Ltd.
Amfac/JMB is one of Hawaii's largest companies, with about 46,000 acres and 950 employees. The company is owned by Northbrook Corp., an affiliate company of Chicago-based JMB Realty Corp., which acquired Amfac in 1988. For 1996, according the Northbrook, Amfac/JMB Hawaii recorded a net loss of $34.2 million. The loss was largely attributed to the lower values of the company's isle land holdings.
