Calif. firm
sells two Big Isle
properties

The sites will be used for
new homes

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

A 3,000-acre property inland of the Mauna Lani Resort has been sold for $5.2 million and a 1,000-acre parcel in Kau was sold for $4.6 million, the Beverly Hills, Calif.-based owner of the Big Island properties said today.

Kennedy-Wilson Inc. acquired the properties by picking up distressed loans from Japanese lenders and then getting title through foreclosure proceedings.

The company said it sold Puako, the bigger of the two parcels, to a Las Vegas-based investment investment firm, Bridge Puako LLC.

The property has entitlements for up to 2,600 homes and six golf courses. The buyer is expected to start work soon on one golf course and several home sites, Kennedy-Wilson said.

The other property, at Kau, was sold to a Hawaii company, Hilu Hilu Development LLC, and has entitlements for 81 three-acre agricultural lots, said Steve Dome, senior vice president of Kennedy-Wilson.

The buyer expects to start development immediately and plans a private golf course there as well as the subdivision, he said.

Dome said his company has profited from the properties by repositioning them and making changes, such as redoing the financing and getting a water-supply agreement for the Kau property.

The new arrangements brought the properties to buyers at prices low enough to allow them to develop them at a profit, he said.

For example, Japanese-owned Nansay Hawaii Inc. had purchased the Puako property in 1990 for $45 million.

Kennedy-Wilson has been involved in a number of large land sales in Hawaii, including the 1997 sale of the Koolau golf course.