Moiliili buildings will get $6M renovation

Kamehameha Schools said it will spend $6 million renovating six severely deteriorated apartment buildings on Kolo Place in Moiliili near the University of Hawaii athletic complex.

The trust, Hawaii’s largest private landowner, had previously owned the land under the buildings but not the buildings under a long-term ground lease. The lease terminated and building ownership was recently conveyed to the trust.

The Kolo Place buildings include 69 rental units. Renovation work will include adding barbecue areas, tables and seating to the landscape as well as pet stations, walls covered with plants and enhanced lighting.

Renovation work will be done by Designer Built Systems and is projected to be finished in September.

Kamehameha Schools said it made similar renovations to three other buildings in the area between 2010 and 2012.

Seagull Schools seeks move to Kakaako

Seagull Schools expects to lose the use of its Honolulu preschool site near the Frank F. Municipal Building and is seeking a replacement site adjacent to Kakaako Waterfront Park.

The nonprofit operator of five preschools on Oahu and one on Hawaii island was granted permission to negotiate a lease with the Hawaii Community Development Authority for a maintenance yard and warehouse used for the park.

HCDA’s board approved negotiations in a 6-1 vote Wednesday.

Seagull envisions being able to convert the 4,000-square-foot warehouse into classroom space for 120 children and improve surrounding grounds for outdoor recreation. The site is next to the park’s parking lot.

The school’s current Honolulu location above the city’s parking garage for the municipal building serves 265 children. The preschool, however, could add new buildings to the Kakaako site that would accommodate another 150 children for a total of 270 under its proposal.

The city intends to make renovations to its parking garage that would displace Seagull, though no timetable has been announced for the work.

Burger King to open Kailua-Kona store

The former Wendy’s restaurant in Kailua-Kona will become the new home for Burger King on the leeward side of Hawaii island.

The lease for the previous Kona location of Burger King expired in the fall and the store, which had opened in 1984, closed. Hawaii Burger King restaurants’ owner Kazi Foods has secured the lease for the former Wendy’s space in the Kona Coast Shopping Center and has offered its two dozen former employees their old jobs back for the summertime opening.

Stability paves way for big-time deals

NEW YORK » 2014 is looking like the year of the big deal. U.S. companies are buying up the competition at levels not seen since the dot-com bubble. And with more clarity on government spending plans, CEOs are more confident their expansion hopes will pan out — especially if the economy keeps growing.

In the past month, Comcast has offered to buy Time Warner Cable for $45 billion. Pharmaceutical giant Actavis is buying Forest Laboratories for $25 billion. And Facebook shocked the technology world by offering $19 billion for WhatsApp.

Experts anticipated a pickup in deal activity, given the bull market and economic recovery. But prior uncertainty about the federal budget, debt ceiling and fate of the Affordable Care Act had held back the really big transactions.

ON THE MOVE

Alan H. Kodama has been named to "America’s Top 1,200 Advisors: State-by-State," which was published by Barron’s magazine, a publication that covers finance and business. Kodama is a private wealth adviser with Ameriprise Financial in Honolulu.

Goodsill Anderson Quinn & Stifel has announced Naomi Sakamoto as a new partner. Prior to joining Goodsill, she practiced law at various law firms in Hawaii and Maine as well as served as a foreign legal advisor in the international finance department of a Japanese securities firm in Tokyo, Japan.

CanDo Construction Supply has announced Annie Kuhlmann as its general manager of operations. She was previously serving in senior executive roles with Safety Systems Hawaii, Miyake Concrete Accessories, Acoustical Material Services and Burke Hawaii.

SHIFTING GEARS

Dream cars touted at annual auto show

Rights to the Billy Ocean song "Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car" have been obtained for this year’s First Hawaiian International Auto Show to make full use of this year’s theme: "Get Into Your Dream Car at the Auto Show," said Dave Rolf, executive director of the Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association.

The dream car theme applies not only to the uber-high end exotics from Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and Bentley on display courtesy of JN Automotive Group, but also to pre-production and 2015 models from Audi, Ford, Kia, Subaru and other manufacturers.

The auto show will open to the public from noon to 10 p.m. on March 14, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on March 15, and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on March 16.

Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for military with ID, $7 for seniors 62 and older, and children 12 and under will be free.

Special discounts and other offers can be found at www.HiAutoShow.com.

Time running out to vote for keiki art

Facebook users have until Sunday to vote for their favorite entries in the 2014 Dream Car Art Contest by Toyota Hawaii.

The top vote-getter in each age category in the People’s Choice competition will receive a cash prize and a chance to win an all-expenses-paid trip to Japan during the summer.

To cast a vote, one must have a Facebook profile and click "like" on the Toyota Hawaii Facebook page.