Prudential buys Hawaiian Dredging building
The parent company of Prudential Locations LLC has purchased the Hawaiian Dredging building on Kapahulu Avenue.
Prudential bought the building at 614 Kapahulu Ave. from Okada Trucking Co. Ltd. for $8.2 million in a deal that closed last week.
Bill Chee, president and CEO of Prudential Locations, says the company hopes to relocate its headquarters to the Kapahulu building from its current location at 3465 Waialae Ave. in Kaimuki.
"Eventually, we plan to move our offices there," said Chee. "It's closer to Waikiki and it's a convenient neighborhood office, similar to Kaimuki. We've always wanted to own our own building, and this was an opportunity to do that."
Chee said Prudential, which has about 285 real estate agents, may occupy two floors while leasing out the remaining floor of the 33,000-square-foot building.
Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co. moved to the City Financial Tower on Merchant Street in downtown Honolulu when its lease ended in August, according to Alan Lock, vice president of marketing.
Okada Trucking bought the building for $5.8 million in 1986, according to county tax records. The building was built by Dillingham Construction Holdings, formerly the parent company of Hawaiian Dredging, in 1977.
The area's neighborhood board at one time eyed the building as a potential site for a community center because of its location.
Karen Ah Mai, chairwoman of the Diamond Head/ Kapahulu/St. Louis Heights neighborhood board, said the board now hopes a nearby lot owned by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources could house the community center.
The board recently opposed an application by DLNR seeking a zoning change for the lot -- which is currently used as a parking lot by nearby businesses -- from residential to commercial.
"We requested that it remain a community center or community lot," she said. "It's the only parcel left, and it should be for the community as opposed to something commercial."