It’s all over for Honey Bee USA Inc.
Time has finally run out on the development firm’s effort to keep afloat a floundering retail, boating and wedding venue construction project on prime state-owned waterfront land at the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor.
A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge ruled Monday to dismiss Honey Bee’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case. The company had been desperately seeking new investors to revive its $24 million plan called Waikiki Landing.
Keith Kiuchi, a local attorney who assumed control of Honey Bee a few years ago, had been given several chances to secure financing since the company filed for bankruptcy in November. And on Monday, Kiuchi asked for one last chance, saying that a company called Legal Mortgage Services just needed two weeks to verify some details before providing $24 million.
But Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris, who in June rejected a motion by Kiuchi to hold onto Honey Bee’s land lease with the state, said yet another tentative prospect with an investor wasn’t enough to reconsider his earlier decision and keep the case alive.
“This isn’t to say anything against Mr. Kiuchi’s efforts or sincerity that he’s come forward with throughout this case,” Faris said. “I just don’t think it’s enough to justify one more continuance after the three or four or five or six we’ve had so far.”
The judge’s ruling means Honey Bee is obligated to surrender the property to the state. The ruling also means that companies and individuals owed money by Honey Bee won’t recoup any of their debts as was hoped for through bankruptcy reorganization.
Honey Bee’s debts total roughly $5.3 million, including about $1 million owed to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources for unpaid rent and fees.
The company’s next-biggest debts include $529,730 owed to Choate Construction, $476,724 owed to Attend Service Inc., $473,861 owed to Hawaiian Dredging Construction, $438,544 owed to Tutu USA, $265,665 owed to Thomas Enomoto and $236,763 owed to RM Towill Corp.
Kiuchi filed the motion to dismiss the case on June 29 unless Faris agreed to reverse his decision on the lease or give Kiuchi more time to line up viable financing.
In that motion, Kiuchi said that the lease was Honey Bee’s only asset, and that without it there would be nothing of significant value to pay creditors.
“Without the (DLNR) lease, this estate cannot reorganize,” the motion said.
DLNR has yet to determine what it will do with the property, which includes one site where Honey Bee demolished a fuel dock and another site where the company demolished an old boat repair yard fronting Ala Moana Boulevard. Officials representing the agency at Monday’s hearing said one consideration is to issue a new request for proposals from private developers.
Such a request was made in 2008 as a way to improve the state land and generate income for DLNR’s Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation. Two qualified developers expressed interest, but Honey Bee submitted the only bid and was selected in 2009.
Honey Bee’s plan included a new boatyard repair facility and fuel dock, and three buildings with shops, restaurants and two wedding chapels.
After doing work that included producing an environmental assessment and obtaining several permits plus a waiver from the Legislature on zoning regulations, a 65-year lease was signed in 2013, and demolition work proceeded. However, the project suffered a crucial setback when Honey Bee’s principal, Kyoto-
based developer and yacht racer Hideaki Shimakura, pulled out.
Kiuchi, as the company’s attorney and minority investor, took over but couldn’t keep up with expenses, including rent, despite efforts to find new financial backers. DLNR attempted to terminate its lease with Honey Bee in November, but the company filed Chapter 11 to block the termination and buy extra time to secure financing to cure its debts.
Since then Kiuchi scaled back the size and cost of the project while also floating several tentative agreements to finance the revised plan and pay off creditors. The financing prospects included deals with ICON Commercial Lending, Avatar Financial Group, Straw Sense LLC, Private Capital Group LLC and Xymax Fellow Corp. — all of which fell through.
Kiuchi told Faris on Monday that Legal Mortgage
Services expressed interest last week and just needed two weeks to obtain an updated title report and a list of creditors.
“This is two weeks,” Kiuchi said, explaining that there would be no downside for creditors and that he would cease financing efforts if a deal with Legal Mortgage didn’t happen. “If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. It doesn’t seem like an unreasonable delay.”
Kiuchi added that he had gotten further with Legal Mortgage than with others, but Faris said the extra steps weren’t enough.
“They aren’t particularly large or expensive steps, and they aren’t big enough steps,” the judge said.