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Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Friday, September 1, 2000

Spanish trust buys Kakaako building

A Spain-based trust has bought a small, two-story commercial building in Kakaako between Waimanu and Kawaiahao streets for $4.5 million.

The Dee Zobel Revocable Trust bought the 15-year-old building and the 30,000 square feet of land under it on Aug. 15 from a group of local investors, broker Steve Sofos said yesterday.

Trust executives from Spain have visited Hawaii often and invested in the property because of plans for nearby development by landowner Victoria Ward Ltd. and the state's Hawaii Community Development Authority, Sofos said.

"It's the first of many investments they're looking for in Hawaii," he said.

Big Isle firm gets another federal loan

The Hamakua Macadamia Nut Co. in Kailua-Kona has received a loan of $500,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, adding to a $2.5 million loan the department awarded the company earlier this year. The capital will help expand Hamakua's nut-processing facilities and create 20 jobs, U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink (D, rural Oahu-neighbor islands) said earlier this week. The department also loaned the Ilima Corp. $250,000 to help 21 applicants in Molokai and American Samoa build their own homes.

American pilots urged to reject pact

FORT WORTH, Texas -- In the first high-level opposition to pilots' contract extension with American Airlines, two union leaders have urged members to reject an agreement with the nation's second biggest air carrier.

United Airlines' recent settlement pact with its pilots, which reportedly includes an immediate raise of up to 28 percent, prompted changes in position by the two Allied Pilots Association leaders, who both supported the one-year American extension in a union board vote. The extension calls for a 5.5 percent pay raise. The union leaders said an "overwhelming "no' vote" would send the message to American management that the tentative Allied Pilots-American extension is no longer adequate now that United has reached a settlement.