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Land Board gives Ala Wai developer more time

The Board of Land and Natural Resources has given Honey Bee USA another chance to secure $35 million in financing for its planned development at the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor, known as Waikiki Landing. 

During a Friday meeting, the board agreed to give the Honolulu developer until Nov. 15 to come up with the money or it will terminate its lease with the state.

Plans for the development include a boat repair facility, fuel dock, restaurants, entertainment venues and wedding chapels. 

The board’s extension, which was made reluctantly, came over the objections of staff of the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation, which recommended that the lease be terminated. 

This is the third time that the division’s staff have come before the land board with a recommendation that it cut ties with the developer, which owes the state close to half a million dollars in back rent for the land. The project is also way behind schedule. DLNR entered an agreement with Honey Bee in 2009, and the project was supposed to have been completed by December 2015, said Ed Underwood, division administrator.

DOBOR staff also expressed concerns about the company that Honey Bee says has agreed to finance the project, and which would obtain a 50 percent stake in the project. ICON Commercial Lending Inc. doesn’t appear to have a track record of successfully developing any projects, said Underwood.

Honey Bee’s Keith Kiuchi told the board that his company should have the financing by the first or second week of October. He said that the money is sitting in a Hong Kong bank, but because of disruptions in the Chinese financial market, ICON has had trouble getting it released to a mainland bank.

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