MacNaughton Group puts
Kauai property up for sale

The local developer that brought Starbucks Coffee shops to Hawaii is selling a 14-acre retail property on Kauai.

The MacNaughton Group recently retained Los Angeles-based Eastdil Realty Co. to sell the leasehold interest in the 142,000-square-foot parcel next to the Kukui Grove Shopping Center in Lihue.

The listing price for the complex, whose tenants include Kmart, Payless ShoeSource and Borders Books Music & Cafe, was not available.

Jeff Arce, partner and chief financial officer for the MacNaughton Group, said his company decided to put the property on the market after Grove Farm Land Corp. said it was exploring the sale of the Kukui Grove center.

Earlier this month, Grove Farm announced that it had hired Eastdil to market its Lihue shopping center along with the fee interest to the land beneath the MacNaughton property.

The proposed sale comes as the MacNaughton Group and its partner, the Kobayashi Group, are stepping up their developments on Oahu. The companies, through their MK Kapolei LLC partnership, said they will build a 200,000- to 300,000-square-foot regional shopping center in Kapolei called Kapolei Commons.

MK Kapolei said it is acquiring a 20-acre property next to the H-1 freeway on Kalaeloa Boulevard from Campbell Estate's Kapolei Property Development LLC. The partners also have signed a lease with another Campbell Estate entity, Aina Nui Corp., for a nearby 20-acre parcel for future expansion.

The MacNaughton Group said it has had preliminary discussions with several mainland and local retailers but did not disclose the names of the prospective tenants.

The MacNaughton Group is well known for its development of the 760,000-square-foot Waikele Center in Central Oahu with local developer Richard Gushman. The company's affiliate Cafe Hawaii Partners owns and operates all of the Starbucks and Jamba Juice stores in Hawaii.

The MacNaughton Group and Kobayashi Group are the developers of Hokua at 1288 Ala Moana, a 248-unit luxury condominium under construction in Kakaako. They also have announced plans to build a 394-unit luxury tower called Capitol Place on former city property at the mauka end of Bishop Street.