Bishop Street parking lot put on the market

The Honolulu owners of the 13,637-square-foot parking lot at 1199 Bishop St. have put the fee simple property on the market as a potential development site for a residential and office project.

Commercial real estate firm CB Richard Ellis Hawaii yesterday began marketing the parcel without a specific asking price. The company is offering a development plan for the property that calls for a 35-story, 54-unit residential and office condominium project.

David Stringer and Terry Tusher, who run a downtown architecture firm, are part of a partnership that bought the property for $2 million in 1995, state records show. The parcel is on the makai-Diamond Head corner of the intersection of Bishop and Beretania streets.

Bankoh gets a nibble from Down Under

An Australian financial company, Westpac Banking Corp. based in Sydney, said it will soon have discussions with management of Pacific Century Financial Corp. about buying some of the assets Hawaii-headquartered Pacific Century has put up for sale in a down-sizing move that will concentrate its business in Bank of Hawaii and other operations close to home.

Pacific Century announced April 23 that it will sell 19 branches in Southern California as well as operations in Asia and the South Pacific.

Westpac said it expects to meet early in June, in Australia, with Richard Dahl, president of Bank of Hawaii, and others. In January, Westpac purchased stakes in he Bank of Tonga and Pacific Commercial Bank of Samoa from Pacific Century.

In other news . . .

>> The state saved about $51 million by refinancing a Department of Transportation bond issue, the governor's office said. The department sold about $425 million in airports systems bonds at 5.3 percent interest. The proceeds of the sale will be used to buy out outstanding bonds from 1991, which will reduce annual debt service.

>>Honolulu-headquartered Cheap Tickets Inc. got some national publicity on the Rosie O'Donnell Show Tuesday, when it donated trips to two contestants from the show "Survivor: The Australian Outback." Survivor Elisabeth Filarski was presented with a trip to Paris, including air and hotel; Keith Famie was given a vacation in Beijing.