A&B: All proceeds from former sugar land sale invested
Kamalani Phase One sold, activity ongoing at Ho‘okele center, firm reports
Alexander & Baldwin’s second quarter report last week contained information on a couple of Maui projects, including the sale of the final 22 units in the 170-unit Kamalani workforce development in Kihei and the near completion of the first phase of the Ho’okele Shopping Center in the Maui Business Park.
A&B released its quarterly report Thursday with President and Chief Executive Officer Chris Benjamin noting that the company has invested all of the proceeds from its $262 million sale of 41,000 acres of old Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. lands on Maui to Mahi Pono in December. The final two purchases of the Waipouli Town Center in Kapaa, Kauai, for $17.75 million and the Queens’ MarketPlace in the Waikoloa Beach Resort on Hawaii island for $90 million in May allowed A&B to obtain capital gains tax advantages.
Chief Financial Officer Brett Brown said during the earnings conference call that “we have invested all of the Maui agricultural land sale proceeds.” He said the company should realize an additional $22.4 million annually in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization by not having to pay $8 million per year in holding costs and “once our acquisitions are stabilized and our obligations are completed on Maui.”
Other purchases made with the sale proceeds included three Kapolei warehouse buildings for $66.5 million, the ground lease under the Home Depot in Iwilei, Oahu, for $42 million; and an industrial ground lease in Kapolei for $41 million.
During the April-to-June quarter, A&B sold its final 22 units in the 170-unit first increment of the Kamalani development, which included townhouses and two- and three-bedroom condos, Benjamin said. The completion satisfied affordable housing requirements for the rest of the 600-unit residential development and 55 additional affordable housing credits.
He said A&B does not “anticipate building out the subdivision increments.” For the subsequent increments of the project, “we will seek a qualified homebuilder to take over the project or partner with us,” he said.
On the Ho’okele Shopping Center, Benjamin noted that the new Safeway opened July 24, two months ahead of the schedule, and that a Safeway gas station is set to open at the end of the month. The 71,000-square-foot first phase of the shopping center “is almost complete” and should be finished in the third quarter, he said.
The second quarter report did not address leases for the new shopping center but Benjamin said in releasing the third quarter 2018 report in November that the shopping center was 64 percent leased.
The 23,000-square-foot second phase of the shopping center “will commence as leases are in place,” Benjamin said.
For the second quarter, A&B reported an $800,000 net loss or 1 cent per share compared to a gain of $2.5 million or 3 cents per share in the same quarter last year. A&B blamed a poor performance by Grace Pacific for the decline.
For the half-year, A&B logged a gain of $8.2 million or 11 cents per share compared to $49.8 million and 69 cents per share in 2018. A&B noted six Mainland and three Hawaii property sales in the first quarter boosted the 2018 half-year data.
* Lee Imada can be reached at leeimada@mauinews.com.