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[ FAST FACTS HAWAII ]

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Outrigger snags resort business Down Under

Honolulu-based Outrigger Hotels & Resorts will manage a new 100-unit, boutique resort in North Queensland, Australia, that will be its sixth in the area and its 12th in the country.

Construction on the Beach Club is expected to start this month in Port Douglas, and Outrigger is scheduled to open the resort in October.

Outrigger also is assuming management of the Terraces Hotel & Resort in New Zealand, a property that was built the late 1880s on the country's north island and was recently restored.

The hotel, to be rebranded the Outrigger Terraces Resort, Lake Taupo, will offer 100 rooms after a new wing is built. Outrigger will begin managing the property in February.

Fannie Mae raises loan ceiling

Fannie Mae said yesterday that it will increase its conforming loan limit to $539,475 for Hawaii next year, making more expensive homes eligible for more favorable interest rates.

Conforming loans are those that are packaged for sale to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on the secondary mortgage market and come with rates that are 0.25 percent to 0.375 percent lower than jumbo loans.

Fannie Mae's conforming loan limit for 2004 was $500,550. Fannie Mae, the nation's largest mortgage financing company, and Freddie Mac adjust the limits annually.

The national conforming loan limit will be $359,650 next year. The limit is higher in Hawaii because of higher property values.

Whalers Village gets new manager

Campbell Estate said it has retained General Growth Properties Inc. as property manager of the Whalers Village Shopping Center in Lahaina, Maui.

Campbell Estate spokeswoman Theresia McMurdo said Chicago-based General Growth, which owns Ala Moana Center and Victoria Ward Centers, will take over on Jan. 1. She could provide no further details. Officials with General Growth were not available for comment.

McMurdo said the shopping center, which the estate has been trying to sell for months, remains "on the market." The estate must dissolve its trust structure by 2007 and plans to divide $2.3 billion in assets among its heirs. It will continue to operate as a a limited liability company.

Company to manage hospital costs

Private Healthcare Systems, the nation's leading health-care cost management company, said yesterday it has expanded its relationship with Hawaii Pacific Health to include Kapiolani Medical Centers and Wilcox Memorial Hospital on Kauai.

Hawaii Pacific Health was formed in 2001 by the marriage of four Hawaii hospitals, including Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children, Kapiolani Medical Center at Pali Momi, Straub Clinic & Hospital and Wilcox Memorial Hospital.

Straub Clinic & Hospital has been participating in the Private Healthcare System network since 1999.