Staffing firm to
build on Kapiolani

Star-Bulletin staff

Altres Global Business Solutions Inc. plans to start construction in October on a three-story office building at 967 Kapiolani Blvd.

The employment-staffing company will use the 13,000 square feet of office space for its 65 employees starting in June 2000, said Barron Guss, company president. The company handles temporary and permanent staffing and payroll functions for clients.

The 10,338-square-foot parcel next to the Musicians Union building was purchased for $700,000 in January from Genshiro Kawamoto, the Japanese investor who bought the Kaiser Estate and other isle properties. Guss said the $68-a-square-foot Kapiolani purchase price represented values in 1971, but even with the low land price the office construction "barely pencils out."

Appraisers have noted that recent land sales along Kapiolani Boulevard have been in the $80-a-square-foot range, which could support low-rise commercial development.

Honolulu-based Altres Inc. was formed in 1993 with the combination of Employment Management Corp. and Labor Services Corp.