A&B pays $8 mil
for Amfac land

Star-Bulletin staff

Alexander & Baldwin Inc., through its subsidiary A&B Properties, has purchased nearly 40 acres near the old Waipahu sugar mill from Amfac Property Development Corp.

The $8 million purchase involves land zoned for light industrial use and A&B said it will develop and sell the land as light industrial lots.

W. Allen Doane, A&B president and chief executive officer, said the company will invest another $10 million to complete construction of roadway and utilities beginning next month.

Completion is expected in mid-1999. Marketing of 23 half-acre lots in the first phase will begin immediately, Doane said. The company didn't provide details on plans for subsequent phases.

He said that since the 1960s, A&B Properties has developed hundreds of acres of industrial property and hundreds of thousands of feet of warehouse space on Kauai and Maui.

Amfac had tried to market its "Mill Town Center" properties through local commercial real estate brokers. They had received several inquiries from small builders, food distributors and food manufacturers who would be relocating from industrial areas near the airport, Mapunapuna, Kalihi and Kakaako. But in the slow economic times that didn't happen.

A&B is optimistic. "This property has a prime location and excellent accessibility -- both of which are key factors for success," Doane said.

A&B has 3.3 million square feet of leaseable retail, office and industrial space in its portfolio of commercial properties in Hawaii and on the mainland.