Koa Hotel posts only bid for Kona Surf Resort

Koa Hotel LLC has won an $18 million bid to purchase the leasehold Kona Surf Resort out of foreclosure from Otaka Inc. of Japan, but the purchase is still subject to court confirmation.

There were no other bidders at the Tuesday auction at First Circuit Court, said Richard Wheelock, a representative of Koa Hotel.

A confirmation hearing is scheduled for Feb. 21.

Koa Hotel wants to spend roughly $40 million to renovate the 530-room Big Island resort into a Sheraton hotel, but the new owner must first negotiate a longer ground lease with landowner Kamehameha Schools.

The hotel opened in 1971 and was bought by Otaka for more than $20 million in 1986.

Otaka closed the resort in June 2000 after years of losses, and a noteholder filed a $30 million lawsuit in December 2000 to foreclose on the property.

Koa Hotel, led by Arlen Capital LLC of San Diego and Brickman Associates of New York, had previously said negotiations with Kamehameha Schools would wrap up by December 2001.

No new timetable was announced.

Kalihi Kai Industrial Fair runs today and tomorrow

More than 200 exhibitors will participate in a two-day Industrial Fair beginning today at the Kalihi Kai Industrial Fairgrounds.

The site of the fair is at the Auiki Street side of Kapalama Military Reservation.

The show will spotlight industries that contribute to Hawaii's economic pipeline. Industrial equipment suppliers will be joined in display and demonstration of products by many small businesses.

In keeping with the theme, an industrial fashion show will be presented by Young Laundry and Dry Cleaners.

The show is being sponsored by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and Small Business Hawaii. It will run from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. today and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. tomorrow. Admission and parking are free.

Museum Co. files Chapter 11 bankruptcy

New York >> The Museum Co. has filed for bankruptcy protection after sagging sales left the company saddled with debt. The retailer of museum replicas and art reproductions has 102 stores in 30 states and Canada, including a shop in Ala Moana Center.

"Problems were exacerbated by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11," Museum Co. said in Chapter 11 papers filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.

The company has more than half a dozen stores located in U.S. airports, court papers show.

New York-based Museum Co. listed $73.4 million in assets and $54.6 million in debts in the bankruptcy filing.

With stores primarily in high-end shopping malls, Museum Co. sells reproductions and adaptations of art found in museums such as New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and Washington's Smithsonian Institution.

Schuler Homes' sales jump 26% in quarter

Schuler Homes Inc. sold 1,495 homes in the quarter that ended Dec. 31, a 26 percent increase from 1,188 homes in the same period in 2000, the firm said today.

Ninety of the homes sold were in Hawaii, compared with 95 sold in the fourth quarter of 2000.

The Honolulu-based home-builder had a 3 percent increase in new orders for homes during the same period, with 1,185 orders compared with 1,152 orders in the year-earlier. Schuler sells homes in Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Arizona and California, as well as Hawaii.

Schuler, founded in 1988, is being sold for $1.2 billion to Texas-based D.R. Horton Inc., a deal that would create the nation's second largest home builder.

The merger is expected to be completed during the first quarter of this year, subject to stockholder approval.