Marriott to break ground for new hotel on Maui
A new 138-room Courtyard by Marriott hotel is expected to cost $16.5 million
By Andrew Gomes
Article from: Star-Advertiser
A decade-old plan to build a hotel near Maui’s main airport in Kahului is finally moving forward.
Participants in the venture led by Alexander & Baldwin Inc. announced that construction is slated to begin next week on a 138-room Courtyard by Marriott hotel. A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for today.
The project has long been desired by tourism officials who lament the lack of visitor accommodations near the airport, Maui’s commercial core and county government offices. But economic factors stalled development for several years.
A&B discussed the project publicly in early 2001, but after obtaining county approvals including a zoning change in 2002, the company declared in 2004 that it had deferred the project because of high construction costs.
Now A&B said the timing is right to build the hotel, which is estimated to cost $16.5 million.
“The economy is coming back,” Grant Y.M. Chun, vice president of the real estate subsidiary of A&B, said in a statement. “We are confident this hotel — long anticipated, for sure — will be a welcome and convenient option for short-term visitors from the neighbor islands, government officials desiring proximity to Wailuku offices and, quite possibly sports event or family reunion attendees.”
Marriott expects the hotel will appeal to business guests, travelers and visitors interested in exploring Central and Upcountry Maui.
The four-story complex will include a business center, meeting rooms, a pool, fitness center, bar and lounge. The hotel also will include a guest laundry, surfboard storage and a convenience store.
The hotel will be the third Courtyard hotel in Hawaii. The others are in Waikiki and on Kauai. One is also planned for Laie. Overall, Marriott presently manages 14 hotel and time-share properties in Hawaii under the Courtyard and other brand names.
The Kahului hotel will be on a 3-acre site at the intersection of Dairy Road, Haleakala Highway and Keolani Place, which leads to the airport.
R.D. Olson Construction, an Irvine, Calif.-based firm that has built Marriott hotels, is the contractor for the Maui project. A&B estimates that more than 50 jobs, including some for local subcontractors, will be needed to build the hotel.
First Hawaiian has ‘respectable’ quarter
CEO Don Horner says his bank’s income rose amid “progress” in the state’s economy
By Dave Segal
Article from: Star-Advertiser
First Hawaiian Bank said its net income rose 2.6 percent in the first quarter amid signs that the Hawaii economy is turning around.
The state’s largest bank in terms of assets posted earnings of $52.7 million compared with $51.3 million in the year-earlier period, according to financial results due out today.
Chairman and CEO Don Horner called the quarter “respectable” and said the bank’s overall fundamentals remain solid.
“We see continued progress in our state’s economy and are hopeful the impact of the March 11 tragedy in Japan will not be as severe as first predicted,” Horner said. “A strong tourism sector is an important contributor to lead our economic recovery.”
Earlier this month, First Hawaiian released a first-quarter business activity report that showed retail spending by consumers increased 10.2 percent over the same period a year ago at businesses open at least a year. The bank is the state’s largest provider of merchant card terminals and debit and credit card processing with more than 7,500 merchant locations in Hawaii, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
First Hawaiian’s assets last quarter increased 6.3 percent to $15.2 billion from $14.3 billion.
Deposits were up 5.8 percent to $10.8 billion from $10.2 billion, and loans and leases edged up 2.8 percent to $8.2 billion from $8 billion.
The percentage of nonperforming assets to total assets remained low at 0.2.5 percent compared with 0.23 percent a year ago.
The bank’s capital, or net worth, at the end of thequarter was in excess of $2.6 billion and remained in the top quartile nationally as a percentage of total assets.
First Hawaiian, a wholly owned subsidiary of French banking giant BNP Paribas, is not required to separately report its earnings, but does so voluntarily each quarter.
The Honolulu-based bank, founded in 1858, has 58 branches in Hawaii, three on Guam and two on Saipan.
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