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Pacific Office Properties Trust Inc. reduced its first-quarter loss from a year ago using proceeds from a previously reported sale of a Waikiki building in which the company owned a 5 percent stake.
The Honolulu-based company reported a $1.8 million loss in the January-March period compared with a $3 million loss in the same quarter last year, according to a report filed Monday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The improvement was largely due to selling an office building at 1833 Kalakaua Ave. across from the Ala Wai Canal in March. Pacific Office owned the building with partners and received $1.9 million in sale proceeds for its small stake.
Revenue for Pacific Office was flat at about $11.4 million in the recent and year-ago quarters.
| FIRST-QUARTER LOSS
$1.8 million
YEAR-EARLIER LOSS
$3 million
|
Following the Waikiki building sale, Pacific Office owns three buildings in Honolulu — the Pan Am Building, Waterfront Plaza and Davies Pacific Center — and a 5 percent stake in an Arizona property.
The Honolulu properties were about 85.8 percent leased at the end of March, up from 85.2 percent at the end of last year, the financial report said.
Shares of Pacific Office stock, which are lightly traded, rose to close at 15 cents after the earnings announcement from the last closing price of 11 cents on Thursday. Over the last 52 weeks, shares of Pacific Office stock have closed between a low of 5 cents on Feb. 23 and a high of $1.01 on May 12.
Pacific Office was created as a publicly traded company in 2008 by local real estate investor Jay Shidler, who contributed several buildings he owned. The company at one point owned 24 properties and had aspirations of using investor capital to acquire many more. But Pacific Office struggled amid the U.S. economic recession shortly after the company’s formation and ended up selling or losing properties to foreclosure in an effort to stay solvent.
One lifeline obtained last year was a $280 million loan from Don Quijote (USA) Co. Ltd., which owns three Don Quijote stores on Oahu. Proceeds from the loan were used to pay off $266 million in mortgage debt on the three Honolulu buildings that needed to be paid off before the end of last year.
Part of the consideration for the loan allows Don Quijote to buy the Pan Am Building at 1600 Kapiolani Blvd. for $78.5 million next year.
The Don Quijote loan matures in 2019 and represents the bulk of $332 million of debt carried by Pacific Office.
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