MAP ILLUSTRATION BY COLLIERS MONROE FRIEDLANDER AND STAR-BULLETIN Campbell Estate has put Oahu's last large developable industrial tract, totaling 100 acres, on the market. Listing firm Colliers Monroe Friedlander estimates it could sell for upwards of $80 million.

Campbell offering 100 acres

Taking advantage of Oahu's position as the tightest industrial market in the nation, the Campbell Estate has put a 100-acre contiguous parcel of prime industrial West Oahu land on the market.

The land, which is located across from Kapolei Business Park and is central to the estate's vision of developing Kapolei into Oahu's second urban center, is expected to draw nationwide interest and upwards of $80 million, said Scott Mitchell, executive vice president and industrial services manager for listing firm Colliers Monroe Friedlander.

"There's going to be an incredible amount of interest in this property," Mitchell said.

The West Kalaeloa parcel is the last large developable industrial property on the island, and the fourth-largest industrial tract to be offered on Oahu in recent times, said Guy V. Kidder, vice president of the industrial services division for Colliers.

Sale of the West Kalaeloa parcel not only represents the future of industrial development on Oahu, but it is key to creating jobs and carrying out Campbell Estate's plan to develop Kapolei into a place to live, work and play, said Maeda Timson, chairwoman of the Makakilo/Kapolei/Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board.

"I think it's important that they find a good developer who isn't interested in retail or residential development. We need more industrial users and manufacturers to create more career opportunities for our residents," said Timson, who has lived in Makakilo since 1971, when it was little more than sugar-cane fields.

The development of Campbell Industrial Park has brought a variety of higher-paying jobs into the region, she said. It's also freed some West Oahu residents from long traffic commutes into town or from moving to the mainland in search of more money, Timson said.

"We'll all be watching to see if Kalaeloa will do the same," she said.

The fee simple land, which Campbell will replace by acquiring another property, is a little more than a third of the size of the 280-acre Mapunapuna-Damon Estate tract that drew global industry attention when it sold to HRPT Properties Trust for $480 million at the end of 2004.

HRPT, which also bought the 188-acre Campbell Industrial Park for about $115 million, could be a possible contender for the latest offering, Mitchell said.

Since completing the Campbell transaction last summer, HRPT has grown its industrial land holdings on Oahu to more than 400 acres, making it one of the largest industrial landowners in the state.

The Campbell Estate is a private trust with office, retail and industrial properties in Hawaii and 15 mainland states. The $2-billion-plus estate, one of the oldest in the nation, was set up in 1900 as a private, for-profit trust by Scottish carpenter James Campbell for his heirs. In 2004, Campbell's heirs agreed to convert the private trust into a national real estate operating company.

The Kalaeloa listing comes at a time when Honolulu's 1.8 percent industrial vacancy rate is creating difficulties for tenants to lease warehouse or industrial space, Colliers' Kidder said.

"Phase I of the Kapolei Business Park retailed for about $13 per square foot in August of 2004, with the most recent sales going for $30 per square foot," Kidder said.

More than 600,000 square feet of new industrial-condominium space in West Oahu is scheduled to become available next year, but it won't be enough to satisfy demand from the expanding labor market, said Mike Hamasu, director of research and consulting at Colliers.