COURTESY CHOI INTERNATIONAL The 2.76-acre lot being offered for sale can also be bought in three individual parcels for $13.5 million each. One offer has been made for the combined lot, says broker Patricia Choi, but not at the full price. CLICK FOR LARGE

$40M Kahala beach lot hits the market

A Kahala listing sets a real estate record

If you have a spare $40 million, it could buy close to three acres of prime beachfront property in Kahala.

The vacant lot -- three parcels combined -- is the most recent listing of Patricia Choi at Choi International. Choi says that to her knowledge it is the highest recorded listing for a residential lot in Hawaii.

Property records list the fee-simple owner of the parcels at 4415, 4423 and 4433 Kahala Ave. as the Barham Trust, based in Beverly Hills, Calif., though local luxury real estate agents say the lots were to be developed as the beachfront estate of media mogul David Geffen.

Each of the lots was purchased separately over the last three years -- two for $9 million apiece and one for $4 million, according to property records. Together, they measure 2.76 acres.

The Barham Trust decided not to build on the property after all, she said. Choi declined to say who controls the trust.

She is offering the three lots together for the $40 million price tag or as separate parcels -- measuring close to an acre each -- for $13.5 million apiece.

So far, she said, there has been one offer for all three lots, but not at the full price.

"It should set a record," she said.

Honolulu county assessments for the parcels add up to only about $31.5 million.

Other brokers are balking at the $40 million price tag.

Mary Worrall of Mary Worrall Associates recalls prices reaching up to $325 per square foot at the height of the Japanese boom.

At the $40 million price tag, the 2.76 acres are on the market for about $333 per square foot.

"That's a very big price," Worrall said. "I don't think anything recently has sold for more than $300 per square foot. I don't recall sales even with homes in bad condition that quite reached that price."

Carl Smigielski, principal broker of Sandwich Isles Realty Inc., says he thinks a buyer is more likely to purchase individual parcels than all three acres.

Only one other vacant parcel in Kahala is now listed on the market -- a 15,648-square-foot inland property at Black Point, offered for $2.28 million by Sachi Braden of Sachi Hawaii.

Braden said she originally listed that lot for $2.5 million, but dropped the price a notch to reflect the current market. At the current list price, the property is being offered for about $146 per square foot.

Choi also has a $26 million listing for a 51-year-old house at 4607 Kahala Ave. The 1.3-acre estate offers more than 140 linear feet of beach, and could potentially be a tear-down.