Hawaii Real Estate and Economy

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Honolulu Real Estate – Hale Kula Elementary School to Get $33 Million Renovation

The Hale Kula Elementary campus on Schofield Barracks is schedule to undergo a $33 million renovation project. Approximately $26.4 million will come from the Department of Defense, which is spending a total of $250 million to upgrade public schools of military bases nationwide. The state of Hawaii’s Department of Education will provide the remaining $6.6 million. Included in the plans is the building of a new two-story classroom building, a student center and library-media center, and additional classrooms. School Principal, Jan Iwase, stated, “We’re very excited about this opportunity. The school was built in 1969, and there have been no upgrades or additional buildings since.”

U.S. Senator Mazie Hirono added, “When men and women serve in our military, their children serve, too. This much-needed funding will help ensure the children of families stationed at Schofield Barracks and Wheeler Army Airfield can learn in a school with facilities that meet their needs.” Renovations are expected to begin in the summer of 2013 and will be completed in about three years.

Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser, 3-8-2013, www.staradvertiser.com
Posted by Jeff Uyemura-Reyes, Broker-in-Charge, Realtor®
Global Executive Realty, LLC
www.myhawaiihomesearch.com
www.myhawaiicondo.com
www.myhawaiidreamhome.com

Big Island of Hawaii – Possible Direct Flights from Tokyo to Kailua-Kona

The Hawaii Tourism Authority has announced that they are working with Japan Airlines to create a nonstop flight from Tokyo’s Narita Airport to Kailua-Kona’s airport on the Big Island of Hawaii. Tentatively, the plan is to have a trial period over the summer with a total of 10 flights coming in June and July. If there is enough demand, Japan Airlines would consider establishing a regularly scheduled service to the Big Island. Vice President of Brand Management for the Hawaii Tourism Authority, David Uchiyama, commented, ”(Japan Airlines) want to be able to see if the interest and demand is there. The charter flights would be a good way of measuring the waters.” The HTA had been striving to find new ways to increase tourism business on all of the neighbor islands.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Kakaako Real Estate – Fairgrounds Approved by Hawaii Community Development Authority

The Hawaii Community Development Authority’s board had voted unanimously in an 8-0 decision to approve the building of a fairground in Kakaako. Project developer Billy Balding is proposing to spend $10 million and take a 3-acre lot and add a go-kart racetrack, a surfing wave machine, a skateboard park, a seated zip line, an indoor skydiving tower, a rock-climbing wall, a miniature golf course and kiddie carnival rides. Tentatively, the fairgounds will be open every day from 9:00 am to midnight and would employ between 30 and 45 people. Balding is still negotiating the exact lease terms with Kamehameha Schools, the landowner.

Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser, 3-7-2013, www.staradvertiser.com
Posted by Jeff Uyemura-Reyes, Broker-in-Charge, Realtor®
Global Executive Realty, LLC
www.myhawaiihomesearch.com
www.myhawaiicondo.com
www.myhawaiidreamhome.com

Hawaii Tourism – Hawaii Tourism Authority Sets Projections for 2013

The Hawaii Tourism Authority predicts that a record setting 8.5 million visitors will come to the Hawaiian Islands in 2013 and spend a total of $15.8 billion. This is approximately 500,000 more visitors then 2012 and an additional $1.5 billion in spending. In terms of percentage, this means a 6.3 percent increase in visitors and a 10.7 percent increase in spending from a year prior. David Uchiyama, the Vice President of Brand Management for the HTA, stated, “All of our markets performed exceptionally well last year. Since our last review in July, we’ve seen incremental gains in each market and we expect more gains based on opportunities created by seat growth and market demand.”

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Maui Real Estate – Lehman Brothers Plans to Sell Ritz-Carlton Kapalua

The Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc. has announced that they would be interested in selling the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua hotel on Maui sometime over the next few months. Lehman Brothers had helped to finance the resort before the owners filed for bankruptcy in 2008. Lehman Brothers gained control of the property after foreclosing on the loan. The hotel is located on a 54 acre resort and features a total of 463 guest rooms and suites. There are also six restaurants, a spa, and two championship golf courses on the property. Real estate experts believe that Hawaii’s improving tourism market and higher hotel occupancy rate is encouraging Lehman Brothers to liquidate this holding.

Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser, 3-6-2013, www.staradvertiser.com
Posted by Jeff Uyemura-Reyes, Broker-in-Charge, Realtor®
Global Executive Realty, LLC
www.myhawaiihomesearch.com
www.myhawaiicondo.com
www.myhawaiidreamhome.com

Hawaii Real Estate – Billionaire Genshiro Kawamoto Arrested in Japan for Suspected Tax Evasion

Japanese billionaire and real estate tycoon Genshiro Kawamoto has been arrested in Tokyo, Japan for suspected tax evasion. Kawamoto, who is 81 years old, is accused of evading paying $9.2 million in corporate taxes. According to Kyodo News, Kawamoto did not report $31 million in revenue over three years ending in December 2011. Kawamoto is believed to have played a leading roll in the tax evasion by not reporting rent from some of its tenants and falsely listing losses under the guise of building sales. Kawamoto stated to reporters, “I haven’t evaded taxes, and I don’t know anything about it (the charges),”

Genshiro Kawamoto has gain fame and notoriety in Hawaii when he purchased approximately 200 homes for a total of over $85 million around the island of Oahu in the late 1980s. In the early to mid 2000s, Kawamoto purchased almost 30 additional homes along Kahala Avenue for $165 million.

Hawaii Economy – Federal Government Starts Sending Out Furlough Notices

As a direct result of sequestration, various federal government departments and agencies has started to send out furlough notices to thousands of workers throughout the state of Hawaii. Sequestration will cut $85 billion in defense and non-defense cuts during this fiscal year. Over the next ten years approximately 1 trillion will be cut in federal funding.

The U.S. Pacific Fleet has stated that workers would be subject to one day of furlough per week for the last 22 weeks of the current fiscal year. This will effect over 4,000 civilian workers, many of whom work at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. Shipyard spokerwoman, Jensin Sommer stated that the shipyard workforce is “definitely very concerned about the impacts of potential furlough.” Sommer added, “I can’t speak for them at large, but I know that individually, people are concerned about the measures that they are going to have to take to make up for the loss of 20 percent of their income.”

The Justice Department stated that some of their employees will be furloughed for 14 workdays. The Transportation Security Administration stated that they will also be forced to furlough workers and warned, “as sequestration takes effect, travelers can expect to see lines and wait times increase as reductions to overtime and the inability to backfill positions for attrition begin to occur this month.” TSA added that due to staffing decreases, security waiting times at the larger airports could double.

The U.S. Army Pacific stated that approximately 7,032 civilian workers in Hawaii would be furloughed by 22 days or 176 hours of work. The Hawaii National Guard added that sequestration would result in 1,100 citizen soldiers and airmen being furloughed, though the exact amount of time has not been released. Hawaii National Guard spokesman, Lt. Col. Chuck Anthony, stated, “So if this thing keeps going for a long period of time — let’s say sequester continues to haunt us through the end of the fiscal year, it’s pretty obvious this thing is going to start cutting into readiness. So it’s an economic hardship, and it’s probably also going to be a readiness hardship. The amount of training that we are doing is being greatly curtailed.”

Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser, 3-5-2013, www.staradvertiser.com
Posted by Jeff Uyemura-Reyes, Broker-in-Charge, Realtor®
Global Executive Realty, LLC
www.myhawaiihomesearch.com
www.myhawaiicondo.com
www.myhawaiidreamhome.com

Search This Blog

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Tuesday, March 5, 2013