A Japanese business that bought Koko Marina Center in Hawaii Kai for $28.9 million in 1994 has sold it to a California investment group headed by Sacramento-based University Capital Management for $19 million but says it still made a profit. Koko Marina
fetches $19 milThe center was bought by
a California investment groupBy Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.comThe seller, Orix Real Estate Equities, acquired the center in a foreclosure after providing financing to a previous owner. Because Orix was owed money, it didn't pay the full price, said Hiroshi Nishio, an Orix executive in Chicago.
Monday's closing of the sale to a newly formed firm, Koko Marina Holdings LLC, gave Orix a profit, he said.
"We took it over after the bubble economy in Japan. We spent a lot of time and money and appreciated our book value. Even though we sold it for $19 million we realized a profit. We are very happy," Nishio said.
Orix also has a property investment at Waikoloa on the Big Island and hopes to do something with that, Nishio said. Parent Orix Corp., Japan's largest non-bank financial services company, has expanded from the financing role it played in the 1980s and the early 1990s into property development, real estate management and other related activities, he said.
Orix listed the property for sale in January at an asking price of $24.5 million, about $86 a square foot for the 285,000-square-foot center.
The property, on the corner of Kalanianaole Highway and Lunalilo Home Road, includes a two-acre, 95-boat marina on Kuapa Pond.
The land is leased from Kamehameha Schools.
The property's manager and real estate agent, CB Richard Ellis, said earlier that the initial listing in January bought a flurry of inquiries, indicating strong interest in well-placed Hawaii properties.
University Capital Management could not be reached.
Koko Marina Center