A&B boosts Kukui'ula project stake

Alexander & Baldwin Inc. announced that it will now be the majority investor in its luxury Kukui'ula project on Kauai.

A&B's subsidiary, KDC LLC, and co-developer DMB Associates Inc. of Arizona will invest an estimated $165 million through the next three years to complete the project's recreational amenities and residential infrastructure.

Construction on the 18-hole Tom Weiskopf championship golf course, resident club, restaurant, golf clubhouse and world-class spa broke ground last year, and is scheduled for completion at the end of 2010.

Kukui'ula, a 1,000-acre master-planned resort marketed as the “;Living Garden”; in Poipu, is expected to offer 123 lots for both plantation-style cottages and custom home sites.

Walgreens readies store in Kailua

The shelves are stocked and shopping carts ready to go at Walgreens Kailua, which is set for a grand opening Sunday.

The store at the former Price Busters at 56 Oneawa St. is smaller than typical, and does not have a drive-through pharmacy, although one will be added later.

Other Walgreens stores already opened in Hawaii are on Keeaumoku Street in Kalihi and Kaneohe on Oahu. Walgreens also has five pharmacy-only sites — two in Lahaina, two in Wailuku and one that just opened last month in Waipahu.

Walgreens will present the American Diabetes Association with a check for $10,000 as part of the store's opening, and recognize three students from Enchanted Lake Elementary School who raised the most funds for their school walk.

Verizon Wireless to reopen store

The newly remodeled Verizon Wireless store at Pacific Guardian Tower will open with a Hawaiian blessing at 8:15 a.m. tomorrow.

The store, at 1440 Kapiolani Blvd., is twice the size it was previously and marks the company's first “;evolution”; store in the state.

Customers will be able to sample fully activated new phones and devices and sample MIFI, or personal Wi-Fi hotspot technology, as well as access technical assistance and customer support.

S&P lowers outlook for HEI, HECO

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has lowered its outlook for Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. and subsidiary Hawaiian Electric Co. to negative from stable and lowered the short-term ratings for both to A-3 from A-2.

The rating action reflects deterioration in Hawaii's economy “;that is likely to weaken 2009 and 2010 consolidated credit metrics,”; S&P said.

Island Air records 86.9% on-time rate

Island Air posted an on-time average performance in March of 86.9 percent, completed 99.9 percent of its flights and had no complaints filed with the U.S. Department of Transportation, the airline reported yesterday.

Since Island Air is a regional carrier, it is ineligible to be ranked among domestic carriers. But Island Air said that had it been ranked, it would have finished second in punctuality and flight completion and first for fewest complaints.

ON THE MOVE

  » Martin S. Loui has joined the intellectual property group of Goodsill Anderson Quinn & Stifel LLP. He will focus on the strategic development of patent, trademark, copyright and trade-secret portfolios for the protection and monetization of technology assets for both private and publicly traded business. Loui previously worked as an intellectual property attorney at Coudert Brother LLP in Washington, D.C., and Fenwick & West LLP in Silicon Valley.

» Cardax Pharmaceuticals Inc. has appointed Gilbert M. Rishton as chief science officer. He has more than 15 years in the pharmaceutical industry, including being the founding medicinal chemist and chemistry manager at the Thousand Oaks site of Amgen Small Molecule Drug Discovery Group

ALOHA VISITORS

A weekly snapshot of passenger arrivals from May 19-25 with the percentage change from a year earlier:

Source: Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism