$300M Hawaii Condo Development Under Way

HONOLULU-With the necessary government approvals in place, KC Rainbow Development this month began turning reservations for its $300-million condominium development here into sales contracts. The fully reserved 770,466-sf development, which began coming out of the ground two months ago, will have 710 units in two glass-sided, 46-story, oval towers over a six-story podium containing 1,667 parking spaces. The Chan family of San Francisco is the landowner and equity partner. GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp. on Friday completed a syndication of the $240-million, 36-month construction loan it provided the developer at the end of March. GMACCCM SVP Carol Conklin tells GlobeSt.com seven other banks took part, including Union Labor Life Insurance CO., Helaba (a German bank), Allied Irish Bank, Hong Kong Shanghai, East-West Bank, First Hawaiian Bank and MidFirst Bank. Since the funding of the floating rate loan, the contractor has been going vertical, and the developer has been awaiting the “final public report” required before refundable reservations can be converted to non-refundable sales contracts. KC Development’s director of operations Allen Leong tells GlobeSt.com that work on the sales contracts began 10 days ago. Less than 10 units in the entire project remain available, all due to reservations being cancelled, but a lengthy waiting list should soak them up quickly, he says.”I have approximately 80 people in back-up position to cover an expected fallout of between 5% and 8%,” Leong says. “For the past month and a half, whenever a reservation has been cancelled, we have been able to resell that unit in seven to 10 days.”The towers are rising at the corner of Kapiolani Boulevard and Piikoi Street, near McKinley High School. Project amenities include a putting green, driving range, tennis courts, spa, lap and swimming pools and jogging tracks. In addition, each tower will have its own theater, game rooms, party rooms and a fitness center. Substantial completion is slated for January 2007. GMACCM’s residential lending affiliate, GMAC Mortgage Corp., is offering financing to purchasers of the individual units through a new program that allows purchasers to lock-in their interest rate 24 months in advance of closing. Leong says the average sales price is about $550 per sf.