Honolulu fifth in home-price cuts

Honolulu ranked fifth nationwide as of July 1 in terms of the percentage of home listings with price reductions, according to San Francisco-based real estate search company Trulia Inc.

Trulia said the prices of 33 percent of residential real estate listings in Honolulu dropped during the period from July 1, 2008, to July 1, 2009, with the average price drop being about 10 percent.

The city with the highest percentage of price-reduced homes was Jacksonville, Fla., at 39 percent, with its average price drop being 12 percent. Also in the top five were Boston, with 35 percent of its home listings being reduced in price by an average of 8 percent; and Minneapolis and Milwaukee, both at 33 percent and both also with average drops of 8 percent.

2 Waikiki hotels become dorms

Hawaiian Island Homes has assumed management of two low-rise hotels in Waikiki, which will now accept student dorm rentals.

The 70-unit Hawaiiana Hotel and 77-unit Whitesands Hotel will add 200 beds to the company's inventory and be managed by Hawaiian Student Suites, a subsidiary of Hawaiian Island Homes.

The company also operates dorms at Kalo Terrace, Waikiki West, Tradewinds Mauka and Ala Moana Towers.

Island Air punctuality hits 89.3%

Island Air posted another strong on-time performance in May as 89.3 percent of its flights arrived within 15 minutes of schedule. The interisland carrier also said it completed 99.8 percent of its scheduled flights.

Island Air said its on-time performance would be consistently ranked among the top carriers in the nation if it were eligible to report with the top 20 domestic airlines.

Honolulu firm helps light up vintner

Honolulu-based Energy Industries LLC, an energy project development company, worked with General Electric Co. to reconfigure the lighting needs of California-based Kendall-Jackson Winery.

The winery expects to save more than $100,000 a year in energy and maintenance costs as a result of the energy-efficiency initiative at its Kittyhawk location. The lighting retrofit segmented each area of the 11.5-acre facility according to use and lighting needs using updated lighting technology.

Aloha Harvest gets $200,000 grant

Hawaii nonprofit organization Aloha Harvest has received a $200,000 grant from the Hauoli Mau Loa Foundation to help in its mission.

Soon to mark its 10th anniversary, Aloha Harvest has delivered for free some 4.5 million pounds of food to 121 agencies on Oahu. It accepts donations from restaurants, catering services, cafeterias, catered parties and canned-food drives.

ON THE MOVE

  » Karl E. Stahlkopf has joined Sennet Renewables as a partner. He previously served as president of Hawaiian Electric Co.'s Renewable Hawaii subsidiary, as well as HECO's senior vice president, energy solutions and chief technology officer.

» The Boys & Girls Club of the Big Island named George Kalani Silva as its next chief professional officer. He is the co-founder and president of Hawaii Warriors Athletics. He also has coached girls basketball at Kamehameha Schools and was an assistant coach and junior varsity coach in the boys basketball program at Kamehameha Schools and Waiakea High School.