Harbor Court commercial,
retail space sold

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

The commercial and retail space in the Harbor Court building has been sold to a Phoenix buyer for an undisclosed price.

The buyer, Pacific Realty Advisors Inc., said today it is seeking more properties in the islands. The deal includes 186,138 square feet of office space and 15,118 square feet of retail space, including areas occupied by the Palomino Euro Bistro restaurant and Caffe Ciao.

The commercial/retail space is in 18 floors of the 31-story building, across Nimitz Highway from the Aloha Tower Marketplace. The sale also included 325 of the 395 commercial parking stalls in the building.

"We're looking forward to buying more properties over here," said Kenn Francis, president of Pacific Realty Advisors.

The seller, Harbor Court Developers, said the transaction was a positive sign for the Honolulu commercial real estate business.

"This sale shows that mainland investors are bullish about Honolulu's recovering office market," said G. Scott McCormack, vice president of Harbor Court Developers. "This represents the fourth major sale of a Class A office building in downtown Honolulu within the past year," he said, referring to Alii Place, the First Hawaiian Tower and 1000 Bishop Street.

The office and retail space is 98 percent leased and tenants include Square USA, Kapiolani Health, and Pacific Information Exchange Inc. (PixiNet).

McCormack said Pacific Realty Advisors negotiated a separate lease with the city, which owns the land, and the transaction has nothing to do with residential units in the building. Harbor Court Developers owes the city more than $10 million under an agreement to buy the fee title for the land apportioned to some 90 of those residential units.

Harbor Court, completed in 1994, had run into financial difficulties as the slump in the Hawaii economy cut into sales.