The Kamehameha Schools has sold a 110-acre parcel in North Carolina to a mainland pharmaceutical company for $3.9 million. Kamehameha Schools sells
North Carolina land for $3.9 milBy Rick Daysog
rdaysog@starbulletin.comThe $6 billion charitable trust's Treyburn LLC completed the sale of the light industrial parcel in Durham to EMD Pharmaceuticals on Wednesday, people familiar with the deal said.
The sale is part of the Kamehameha Schools' strategy to wind down its noncore mainland holdings and focus on less risky and more liquid investments.
A Kamehameha Schools spokesman could not be reached for immediate comment and EMD officials were not available.
In March, the Raleigh/ Durham Business Journal reported that EMD was looking to build a $260 million manufacturing plant at the Durham property, which is known as the Treyburn Corporate Park.
The plant, which would employ as many as 200 workers, also would serve as the company's U.S. headquarters. EMD, which makes drugs to treat cancer and diabetes, currently leases its Durham headquarters.
The Treyburn Corporate Park is part of a massive commercial and residential project developed by the Kamehameha Schools and North Carolina developer Clay Hamner.
Since the late 1980s, the estate has invested nearly $60 million in the Treyburn venture but a recent appraisal said the Durham properties were worth $14 million.
In addition to the Treyburn parcels, the estate owns the 167-room Velvet Cloak Inn in Raleigh.
The EMD deal comes after the estate last year sold a 608-acre lot near Atlanta to a mainland real estate investor, Genoa Realty Services.
EMD is the U.S. subsidiary of Merck KGaA, a German pharmaceutical giant. Merck KGaA is the former parent of Merck & Co. but the two companies were separated after World War I.
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