KAHULUI – Costco plans to expand its Kahului store and build a gas station next door as part of A&B Properties’ first part of Maui Business Park Phase II.

For years, rumors have alleged that a corrupt bargain between other gasoline sellers and county government have kept Costco from selling gas here.

There is no truth to that, said Mike Dubrota of Northwest Atlantic, the real estate agent for Costco. “I’ve never received any push back,” he said Thursday.

The problem was that the lot was too small, 12.8 acres. The lot was not originally sized to fit Costco’s needs. It was intended for a Sam’s Club. When Wal-Mart backed out, Costco took over the property.

By annexing what A&B calls the old Central Power Plant lot, Costco will have room enough for a gas station, more customer parking and an expansion of its 131,000-square-foot store by about 15,000 square feet. A dust fence has been put up around the property where the gas station will be built.

The store will continue to operate during expansion work, Dubrota said.

However, even if there are no delays, the earliest the gas station could open for business would be mid-2012.

A&B still owns the land, and it is demolishing the buildings there.

Maui Business Park II will total about 178 acres, in two sections. The first section is much smaller, the land is between Kmart and Costco and the yet-unbuilt access road to Kahului Airport.

The Central Power Plant was built in 1917 to supply power to well pumps, Paia, Spreckelsville and nearby plantation camps. Later, Maui Electric Co. acquired the transmission lines and the power plant was abandoned in the 1970s.

A variety of tenants then used the location, but most of the buildings have been vacant for years, and one collapsed. The rest are considered unsafe.

A&B has permits to demolish the structures. Because of their historic interest, the state Historic Preservation Division required survey and documentation of the buildings.

Only two tenants, a trucking firm and a surfboard maker, were still using the lot until recently. Both are relocating.

Maui Business Park is a continuation of the Kahului light industrial area that A&B has been developing since the 1960s.

Before commercial buildings can be permitted, roads and utilities must be installed.

To move the land out of state agricultural use, A&B agreed to contribute 40 acres to the county for affordable housing, 7 acres for a community center and 3 acres for a park.

* Harry Eagar can be reached at heagar@mauinews.com.

Bank of Hawaii has been named the best bank in the country for the second straight year by Forbes magazine.

The Honolulu-based bank, which has assets of $12.7 billion, finished in the top 10 in five of the eight categories that were used to measure financial performance. Forbes determined the ranking by partnering with SNL Financial and evaluating the 100 largest U.S.-owned banks and thrift institutions ranging in asset size from $4.7 billion to $2.3 trillion.

First Hawaiian Bank, the largest bank in the state with $14.8 billion in assets, is owned by Paris-based BNP Paribas SA.

Forbes, which published its rankings online this week, said Bank of Hawaii “stayed very conservative in its underwriting strategy during the housing bubble, which helped minimize the bad loans on its books today.”

The magazine said Bank of Hawaii’s reserves are three times the size of its nonperforming loans, second-best among big banks.

“Wall Street certainly approves of how Bank of Hawaii runs it business: Its shares trade at a multiple of 2.2 times its book value, the second-highest ratio among the 100 largest banks,” Forbes wrote.

Bank of Hawaii’s stock closed up 44 cents yesterday at $47.70 on the New York Stock Exchange.

“Attaining this ranking for two consecutive years now certainly reflects positively on the quality of our community, our clients, and especially our people,” Bank of Hawaii Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Peter Ho said. “This is a nice tribute to our employees, who work tirelessly to meet our customers’ financial needs.”

Analyst Joe Gladue of Haverford, Pa.-based B. Riley & Co. wasn’t surprised by the ranking.

“I think it’s one of the best-managed banks around,” Gladue said. “After it attempted to expand to the mainland years back, the bank pulled back and decided to focus more on its core market in Hawaii and stayed very disciplined with that core franchise. They’ve been conservative lenders, and that’s helped them get through this recent economic downturn.”

The Forbes/SNL ranking was based on return on average equity, net interest margin, nonperforming loans as a percentage of loans, nonperforming assets as a percentage of assets, reserves as a percentage of nonperforming loans, two capital ratios (Tier 1 and risk-based), and leverage ratio.

“In this environment, they continue to do very well vis-a-vis their peers due to their low risk profile, adherence to strong credit underwriting standards, and continuing to follow a strategic plan that results in high profitability, low risk and strong shareholder returns,” said senior research analyst Brett Rabatin of Birmingham, Ala.-based Sterne Agee.

Pasadena, Calif.-based East West Bancorp, the largest bank in the U.S. focused on serving the Asian-American community, was ranked second. Houston-based Prosperity Bancshares was ranked third.

Wilmington Trust, headquartered in Wilmington, Del., ranked last among the 100 largest banks.

KAPALUA – With a slate of musicians that could stand by itself as a concert lineup, the PGA Tour’s season-opening event at Kapalua won’t be short on entertainment that goes beyond golf.

Anuhea is scheduled to perform on Jan. 2, the Sunday before official competition in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions starts at the Plantation Course. Kealii Reichel and Jake Shimabukuro are part of the lineup on Jan. 5.

A performance by Gail Swanson is to follow the completion of the first round, and another by George Kahumoku Jr. is scheduled after the tournament’s final putt falls.

Also, Kelly Slater, winner of 10 Association of Surfing Professionals world titles, is to be in the field for a charity golf event. Kanekoa Texeira of Kula, a pitcher for the Kansas City Royals, is to make a pretournament appearance as well.

No admission fee will be charged for any of the events, including the four days of official competition.

“We had a certain revenue reduction, but we felt it was important to get the event re-energized,” said tournament director Nancy Cross.

A “Family Fun Day” is scheduled for Jan. 2. A three-hole competition will begin at 2 p.m., with two-time defending Hyundai champion Geoff Ogilvy scheduled to take part, along with 2010 tour winners Rocco Mediate and Justin Rose, plus Hawaii State Open winner Tadd Fujikawa. Texeira is to appear that day, and a concert featuring Anuhea is to begin at 3:30 p.m.

Also available Sunday will be a display by trick-shot artist Dan Boever, autographs from Na Koa Ikaika Maui, activities conducted by the Polynesian Village Luau and a taiko drumming exhibition.

Practice rounds start Monday, and a pro-am to benefit the Hawaii State Junior Golf Association is also scheduled with participants to include four players who won on tour last year – Matt Bettencourt, Jason Bohn, Cameron Beckman and Bill Haas – as well as Oahu’s Dean Wilson and three-time tour winner Jerry Kelly.

The traditional pro-am is scheduled for Wednesday, as is the “FedEx Cup Kick-Off,” which is to include a pro-celebrity event with 2010 tour winners Jim Furyk, Anthony Kim, Dustin Johnson and Graeme McDowell, as well as Slater. A long-drive contest at the 18th hole is to have Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson and Robert Garrigus, in addition to the 2009 RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship winner, Jamie Sadlowski.

Music at the first tee on Wednesday will be from Reichel and Shimabukuro, starting at 2 p.m.

“We really wanted to start making this an islandwide event, not just a Kapalua event,” Cross said. “Of course it is great to have it here at Kapalua, a great course, but to have it as an islandwide, statewide event, where we were reaching out to the whole community, is what we wanted.”

A “fan zone” will offer entertainment after each round. In addition to Swanson and Kahu-moku, the artists are Jimmy Mac & the Kool Kats, scheduled to follow the second round’s conclusion, and AnDen, scheduled for the next day.