Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Thursday, January 6, 2000
Hanalei Bay Resort signs Aston Hotels
Aston Hotels & Resorts has been signed to handle the sales and marketing of the Hanalei Bay Resort on the north shore of Kauai. Quintus Resorts of Nevada, which has owned the property since April, continues to manage it. The luxury condominium resort was built in 1979 and renovated in 1995. Posted room rates run from $165 a night for a hotel room to $711 a night for a three-bedroom suite with kitchen. Quintus, based in Tahoe, Nev., owns 87 of the 134 units on the property; the other 47 units are privately owned.
Building contracts up 7% in Hawaii
Contracts written in November for future construction in Hawaii were up 7 percent in value compared with those signed in November 1998, according to the F.W. Dodge Division of the McGraw-Hill Companies, which keeps a regular tally. The firm reported $141.2 million in November contracts in Hawaii, up from $132.2 million in the year-earlier month. Nonbuilding contracts, for such work as streets and highways and harbor developments, led the way with a total of $101.3 million, up 231 percent from a year-earlier $30.6 million.
Mortgage rates climb to 8.15%
McLEAN, Va. -- The benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rate rose to 8.15 percent this week, up from 8.06 percent last week before, according to a survey by mortgage broker Freddie Mac. The new rate is the highest since it also reached 8.15 percent in the week ended Aug. 13, which had been the highest since 8.16 percent in April 1997.The average rate on an adjustable mortgage rose to 6.60 percent this week from 6.56 percent last week, and the 15-year mortgage average rate rose to 7.73 percent from 7.66 percent.
In other news . . .
Cheap Tickets Inc. said it has completed a stock repurchase program, buying in 1.04 million shares in open-market transactions for a total of $14.7 million, or an average of about $14 a share. Shares of the Honolulu-based retailer of discount travel tickets closed at $12.81 today on Nasdaq.