Honolulu Star-Bulletin Business /2005/03/10/

[ FAST FACTS HAWAII ]

Home sales continue to roar at Ko Olina

The second phase of the Ko Olina Kai Golf Estates and Villas on West Oahu, including 78 condo villas and 12 single-family homes, sold out after 10 days on the market. Contract sales totaled $73 million.

The first homes of the new phase will be ready by the first quarter of next year. The project's 150-unit first phase also sold out in 10 days last June, generating more than $112 million in contracts. The entire project comprises 324 homes and condos.

First Hawaiian's Guerrero honored

First Hawaiian Bank Vice Chairman Tony Guerrero Jr. has been named 2004 Sales Person of the Year by Sales and Marketing Executives of Honolulu.

The group will hold a lunch today at Hilton Hawaiian Village to honor Guerrero, with more than 1,100 people expected to attend.

Guerrero has been president of the Friends of Hawaii Charities since it was formed in 1997 and served as chairman of the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau in 2002-2003. He is a graduate of St. Louis School and joined First Hawaiian in 1967.

More Kmarts to convert to Sears

DETROIT » Kmart Holding Corp. announced plans yesterday to convert more than a quarter of its stores to a Sears format following its merger with Sears, Roebuck and Co.

Troy-based Kmart disclosed the plans on the same day that it posted a $309 million profit for the fourth quarter, a 14 percent increase over the previous year. The retailer also said sales at stores open at least a year continued to fall, though at a much lower rate than they had been.

Kmart and Sears shareholders are due to meet March 24 at Sears' headquarters outside of Chicago to approve Kmart's acquisition of the department store chain, first announced in November. The $11 billion deal will create the nation's third-largest retailer.

Kmart, which operates 1,480 stores, revealed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it plans to convert about 400 Kmarts to Sears stores over the next three years.

The company didn't specify what kind of Sears stores they would be, but they likely would fit the new Sears Essentials concept for mid-size, stand-alone stores.