Partners to acquire Honolulu Club building

Local businessman Richard Gushman and a California real estate investment trust have agreed to acquire the Honolulu Club fitness center and its namesake building across from the Neal S. Blaisdell Center on Ward Avenue.

Gushman has partnered with Douglas Emmett Inc. of Santa Monica, Calif., to buy the building for an undisclosed price. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of next year.

The sale includes the Honolulu Club, an upscale fitness center catering to business clientele and managed by the Wellbridge Co. of Denver, which operates 20 clubs with more than 75,000 members and 1,600 employees nationwide.

The fee-simple building was formerly home to the T.G.I. Friday's restaurant, whose lease expired this year.

City records show the seller is Gold Stone Investment Inc., which bought the property in 1999 for $15 million.

"Gushman and Douglas Emmett intend to maintain the high standards that have been established as Oahu's premier health club," the buyers said in a statement.

They plan to make some capital improvements on the property but no other changes to operations or the number of employees at the Honolulu Club.

Douglas Emmett also owns 1132 Bishop St., a 25-story downtown office building, as well as the 31-story Harbor Court across from Aloha Tower. The company also owns the 696-unit Moanalua Hillside Apartments and the Villas at Royal Kunia, a 402-unit apartment complex in Waipahu.