CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM The former NCR Building on Kapiolani Boulevard sold for more than $6 million to a local builder.

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Seized Unity House sells
Kapiolani building for $6M

The labor organization had bought
the former NCR Building for $5M

A group headed by local builder U.S. Pacific Construction Inc. has purchased the former NCR Building on Kapiolani Boulevard for more than $6 million.

Clayton Cooke LLC completed its purchase of the vacant five-story building from the nonprofit labor organization Unity House Inc. on Friday, according to the office of local attorney Brook Hart. Hart represents Unity House's court-appointed receiver, Anthony Pounders.

The sale of the 38,000-square-foot office building had been pending since November and was delayed by last month's seizure of Unity House by the federal government.

Chris Deuchar, development coordinator for U.S. Pacific, said the building will require significant renovation and asbestos remediation.

Deuchar said the buyers haven't finalized their plans but will meet shortly with officials with the Hawaii Community Development Authority, the state agency that oversees development in the Kakaako area.

Unity House, which initially put the property on the market in 2000 for $7 million, purchased the building in 1998 for $5 million from a unit of Dayton, Ohio-based NCR Corp.

NCR paid $15.5 million for the structure in 1991 during the height of the Japanese land investment bubble.

The current deal comes as the federal government has seized Unity House as part of its criminal investigation into former Unity House President Tony Rutledge.

Earlier this month, the receiver Pounders halted payment of a finder's fee that was to have gone to Rutledge's son Aaron Rutledge for the sale of the building.

Pounders alleged that Aaron Rutledge had a "clear conflict of interest" because he was both an officer of Unity House and worked as a real estate agent for PY Inc., which was the broker for the building.

U.S. Pacific Construction has been involved in a number of local projects, including the renovation of the Renaissance Ilikai Hotel, the Ohana Hobron Hotel remake and the recently halted restoration of the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium.