Isle real estate firm lowers Village Park land price

Honolulu real estate holding firm Premiere Property Development Corp. has dropped the asking price for 4.6 acres of vacant commercial land near Wal-Mart in Village Park to $4.5 million.

Premiere Property bought the land in fee simple for $5.3 million in 1997 and had previously listed it for sale at $5.5 million. The parcel is located at 94-673 Kupuohi Street, next door to Times Super Market.

The property's broker, Colliers Monroe Friedlander, describes the site as the entry to the highest-volume Wal-Mart store in Hawaii.

Schuler Homes to offer notes to repay debt

Schuler Homes Inc. said it plans to issue up to $400 million in notes to repay debt.

The Honolulu-based home builder yesterday said it plans to offer $200 million in senior notes due in 2009 and $200 million in subordinates notes due in 2011. The offering will help repay subordinated debt, including current convertible debentures due in January 2003, as well as project specific debt, the company said.

Orbitz travel bookings soar above expectations

NEW YORK >> Four-day-old online travel agency Orbitz yesterday said an unexpected deluge of calls and bookings has prompted plans to double its call center staff to more than 200 people over the next three weeks to meet the demand.

Orbitz said in a statement gross bookings totaled more than $1 million on its Monday launch day and topped $3.3 million on Tuesday. The Chicago-based company is selling more than 10,000 tickets a day, compared with expectations for 200 to 400. The travel site hit its one-month targets in terms of bookings and site visit levels within its first two days of operation.

In other news . . .

SAN FRANCISCO >> Signaling the continued struggles of the online industry, at least 54 Internet companies closed across the nation in May, pushing the casualty total for the first five months of this year beyond what it was for all of 2000.

So far, 269 Internet companies have closed in 2001 compared with 222 last year, according to Webmergers, a San Francisco research and advisory service. Two more online companies went out of business, but the dates could not be determined.