Estate wins big
in Las Vegas deals

Kamehameha Schools sells interests
in three apartment complexes

The Kamehameha Schools is hitting a $200 million jackpot with sales of three Las Vegas apartment complexes.

The $6 billion charitable trust and San Diego-based partner ConAm Group are selling the 678-unit Meridian East apartments to an affiliate of Chicago condominium developer American Invsco for about $136 million.

The estate and ConAm also are selling the 232-unit Flamingo Road rental complex to Brentwood Landco LLC of Nevada for $23.7 million.

The deals, scheduled to close in the next month, come after the Kamehameha Schools sold its stake in the 544-unit Paradise Bay Club for $86 million to an affiliate of the Hard Rock Hotel in September.

An estate spokesman could not be reached for immediate comment.

American Invsco, which is purchasing the Meridian East through an entity known as Koval Flamingo LLC, plans to convert the rentals into condominiums for sale to homeowners, according to the Chicago company's lender, Corrus Bank.

Brentwood Landco also will convert the Flamingo Road project into condos while the Hard Rock Hotel is building a $1 billion, four-tower condominium and hotel complex at the site of the former apartments.

The apartment deals are part of the estate's strategy to sell off mainland real estate that it accumulated during the past two decades.

Initiated in the early 1990s by then-Kamehameha Schools trustee Matsuo Takabuki, the Flamingo Road and Paradise Bay projects are part of the estate's Southern Nevada Income Properties partnership, which at one time included more than nine rental complexes in Las Vegas and Laughlin, Nev.

During the early stages of the partnership with ConAm, the estate owned more than 4 percent of the rental business in Las Vegas, making it one of the city's largest landlords.

Founded in 1975, ConAm is the manager of a $2 billion-plus portfolio of more than 45,000 apartments across the country. The company is headed by Daniel Epstein, a longtime associate of Takabuki's.

The Meridian East, a high-end rental complex that includes five four-story structures, was built in 1992 by the estate, ConAm and Las Vegas developer Mike Saltman at a cost of about $57 million.

According to people familiar with the deal, the Kamehameha Schools is a limited partner in Meridian East but holds a 90 percent stake in the venture. Its share from the sale of those apartments comes to about $108 million.

The trust also holds an 80 percent interest in the Flamingo Road and Paradise Bay apartments. Kamehameha Schools' share in the Paradise Bay Club sale comes to about $78 million. The trust initially invested $28 million in the apartment complex in the early 1990s.

The estate's stake in the Flamingo Road deal amounts will generate revenues about $19 million.