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An investment firm has bought the Waikiki Trade Center office tower on the corner of Seaside and Kuhio avenues, and plans to upgrade the building, which was tied up in financing difficulties for several years.
The buyer, a Delaware-based company, bought the 24-story building on leasehold land from an affiliate of France’s second-largest banking firm, Groupe BPCE, which repossessed the tower in 2010 in lieu of foreclosure.
Seaside Equity LLC bought the building for $8.2 million, according to property records.
The company plans to make improvements that include replacing old mechanical components, reducing energy consumption and upgrading finishes, according to a notice from property manager CBRE Inc.
The new owner also aims to enhance tenant relations, and has retained CBRE to manage the property, which also features two levels of retail, restaurants and bars.
Waikiki Trade Center had spent several years tied up in a dispute between a former owner and owners of the land under the tower.
California-based investors doing business as Waikiki Trade Center Investors LLC paid roughly $30 million to buy the tower in 2006, and planned significant renovations. But the company affiliated with Joseph Daneshgar of Beverly Hills, Calif.-based 3D Investments ran into trouble refinancing a short-term loan with Groupe BPCE affiliate Natixis Real Estate Capital Inc.
Natixis sued to foreclose in 2008 after its loan matured, and repossessed the property in 2010.
The California investors who lost the property filed a lawsuit in 2010 claiming that two firms that own the land under the tower, Queen Emma Land Co. and Seaside Estates LP, improperly blocked refinancing deals that would have prevented Natixis from foreclosing.
Queen Emma Land and Seaside Estates prevailed in the lawsuit last year, according to court records.
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