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Home improvement giant breaks ground in Lihue

Home Depot will break ground on its first Kauai store tomorrow  on a nearly 10-acre site the home improvement giant bought across from the Kukui Grove Shopping Center in Lihue. Grove Farm Land Corp., was the seller. The price of the land was not disclosed.

The store, scheduled for completion this fall, will have 95,000 square feet of merchandise space, plus a garden center of 24,000 square feet. It will employ 125, mostly Kauai residents, Home Depot said. The company said the store will stock some 35,000 different products.

The Kauai outlet will be the fifth Home Depot in Hawaii. Others are in Iwilei and Pearl City on Oahu; Kahului, Maui; and Kona on the Big Island. The Iwilei store, which opened in September 1999, was the first Home Depot in the islands.

Ag department ups mortgage limits

The US Department of Agriculture has increased mortgage limits for its rural housing direct loan program, effective March 24.

The heightened limits will allow eligible rural families to select from a wider range of available housing. The new mortgage limits for Hawaii are: East Hawaii, $199,500; Oahu $277,425; Kauai, $187,300; Maui $285,400; West Hawaii, $199,500 and Molokai, $225,790.

USDA rural development investment for fiscal years 2000-02 now totals $3.1 million in rural Hawaii. Qualifying applicants may obtain 100 percent financing to purchase an existing dwelling, purchase a site and construct a house or purchase newly constructed homes in a rural area.

Makaha Resort sale set to close

The sale of the Makaha Resort Golf Club to the developers of the Ko Olina Resort & Marina is expected to close in early to mid-June, according to a state filing submitted last week.

As previously reported in the Star-Bulletin, the Ko Olina developers are buying the 200-room Makaha Resort from Milwaukee-based Towne Realty Inc., and are seeking state tax credits to help start a job-training facility there.

The Makaha Resort Golf Club has 167 employees.

Ko Olina Co. is already seeking $75 million in state tax credits that would help build a major aquarium, marine science facilities, a sports training complex and a travel industry management intern campus at Ko Olina. The developers said they can get a job-training program off the ground faster by taking over a hotel that is already in operation.

The developers reportedly tried to buy the Makaha Resort three years ago, after it had been closed by its then-owner, a subsidiary of All Nippon Airways. Towne Realty bought the property for $6.1 million in 2000, then reopened the Makaha Resort in 2001.

Big Island woos meeting planners

The Big Island Visitors Bureau has set up a telephone hotline to field calls from meeting planners seeking to move their events to Hawaii from Europe and Asia in response to the war in Iraq.

The hotline is 888-333-6603, which is the number for Krislynne Patterson, meetings sales representative for the Big Island Visitors Bureau. The Big Island has direct flights from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Calif., Denver, Tokyo and Vancouver, British Columbia.

Struggling airlines mount fare sale

Several airlines said today they have joined a fare sale launched by Delta a day earlier to try to reinvigorate U.S. air travel, which has been slowed by war in Iraq and severe acute respiratory syndrome.

United, Northwest, Continental and US Airways all matched Delta's lowered prices in markets where the airlines compete, spokesmen for the carriers said. American Airlines matched the fare sale yesterday.

Separately, United Airlines announced a fare sale for flights between Hawaii and the U.S. mainland. The carrier, which trimmed its daily schedule to 1,500 flights this month as it restructures in bankruptcy, flies daily to the Big Island, Kauai, Maui and Oahu from its hubs in Los Angeles and San Francisco and also has nonstop service from Denver to Honolulu. The deadline for buying tickets is April 18, and trips must be completed by June 11.

Sample round-trip fares include Los Angeles-Honolulu, $440, and Boston-Kauai, $738.

Another CFO added to HealthSouth scandal

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. >> A third former chief financial officer at HealthSouth Corp. agreed to plead guilty today to charges arising from a widening accounting scandal as the health care giant released new corporate governance rules.

Michael Martin, who worked as CFO from October 1997 to February 2000, was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and securities fraud, and with falsifying financial information.

Martin, 42, of Birmingham struck a plea deal and is cooperating with authorities investigating the company, said U.S. Attorney Alice Martin, who is not related to the former executive.

Meanwhile -- partly in answer to criticism that former CEO Richard Scrushy held too much sway with directors -- HealthSouth said the board had approved new rules requiring that most directors be independent from management.

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[Hawaii Inc.]

NEW JOBS

>> Marc Resorts has appointed Lance K. Gilliland as regional manager for Maui and the Big Island. He will be responsible for overseeing management of Marc Maui Vista Resort on Maui and Marc Kona Bali Kai on the Big Island. Prior to joining Marc Resorts, he served as director for The Westin Maui.

>> Brooks Borror has been named broker-in-charge and managing director of Grubb & Ellis/CBI Big Island's office. He previously was vice president of Bollenbacher & Kelton Inc. Leasing and Property Management, a southern California-based development firm.

>> Frank Baltero has been named sales and marketing manager of the New Otani Kaimana Beach Hotel. He jointed the hotel in 1991 and served in the reservations department, front office and most recently as night auditor.

>> Irwin Mortgage Corp. has hired Tiffany Chance as a loan officer in its Honolulu branch.

PROMOTIONS

>> Nobutada Nagai has been promoted to senior vice president of Kyo-ya Co. Ltd. He will provide support to Ernest K. Nishizaki, Kyo-ya executive vice president and chief operating officer, and will serve as the liaison for Japan and Hawaii. Nagai most recently served as the director and assistant corporate secretary. He joined Kyo-ya's parent company, Japan-based Kokusai Kogyo Co., in 1984.

>> Aloha Airlines has promoted John A. Albrecht to regional vice president airport operations for North America. Albrecht previously was with Reno Air as director of airport affairs managing and developing programs at 16 airports. He joined Aloha in 1999 as general manager of the Oakland station and played a key role in the launch of Aloha's first transpacific service.