Hawaii’s industrial real estate market spent the past few years in the dumps, with several warehouse and lot projects stalling and winding up in foreclosure. But as the local economy slowly improves, things are looking up for some industrial land owners.

At the former Hawaii Raceway Park in Kapolei, an investment firm that bought the 64-acre site out of foreclosure last year has sold close to half the property, attracting about a dozen tenants including construction companies, a retail distributor and a security firm needing space.

The former raceway site now named Malakole Industrial Park has sold 27 acres out of a 32-acre first phase that went on the market about a year ago.

"It’s going good,"said local developer Jon Gomes, who is developing the property for the owner, an affiliate of New York-based investment firm Angelo Gordon & Co. "There seems to be a lot of demand. Interest rates are low, and people are feeling better about the economy and tourism."

Gomes, who heads Jon Gomes Development LLC, said he is planning out the second phase and has received good interest.

Malakole Industrial Park was initially planned by California development firm Irongate Capital, which bought the raceway property from Campbell Estate in 2006.

Irongate got the land rezoned and envisioned creating a 90-lot industrial subdivision, but ran into financial trouble. Two lenders filed foreclosure lawsuits in 2008 and 2009.

Not far from the former raceway site, another once-troubled industrial park project is also trying to emerge from the market downturn.

The project known as Kapolei Business Park II was bought last month by an affiliate of California-based investment firm Jupiter Holdings. The company bought the 54-acre parcel out of bankruptcy from local development firm LVKapolei 54 LLC, led by Paul Lambert and Mark Whiting of Lokahi Ventures LLC.

LVKapolei had nonbinding purchase commitments for 12 lots in 2008 but defaulted on a $22 million loan and filed bankruptcy in April to block a foreclosure auction by Central Pacific Bank.

Jupiter acquired the interest in the loan from the bank, then acquired the property from LVKapolei. The value of the sale was listed at $12 million in property records.

The sale, in a twist, returns the property to Jupiter, which bought the parcel from Campbell Estate in 2004 for $10 million and then sold it to LVKapolei in 2005 for $22 million.