Allure Waikiki puts adjoining lot on the market for $5 million

The developers of a luxury high-rise condominium in Waikiki have subdivided the property and put a 16,200-square-foot pad site on the market.

The Allure Waikiki condos, meanwhile, is trying a different tack to boost sales in the slumping economy.

The land adjacent to the site of the 35-story condominium tower under construction on the site of the old Wave Waikiki nightclub is occupied by the project’s sales center. Colliers Monroe Friedlander recently listed the property for $5 million.

Chicago-based developer Fifield Co. recently got subdivision approval and hopes to sell the land to a retail or restaurant buyer, said Senior Vice President Kevin Farrell.

Fifield has said all along that it planned to put a high-end restaurant on the site of its sales office, but only recently said it would sell the land beneath it. Although the developer is open to leasing the space, Farrell said it makes sense to sell the land.

“A restaurant would be ideal,” he said. “We have parking in the [condo] building for the retail space.”

The sales office will remain for at least another year, which would give a prospective buyer time for due diligence and planning, he said.

The 300-unit Allure was the last large high-rise condominium of the latest building boom to start construction in Waikiki, and missed the sales frenzy that drove the market in the past couple of years.

The nearby Watermark Waikiki off Hobron Lane opened this year and almost sold out, and the 38-story Trump International Hotel Tower, which is scheduled to be delivered in the first half of 2009, sold out in a one-day sales blitz two years ago.

But the Allure has sold only about 60 units since sales started some 18 months ago.

Fifield recently teamed up with NAI Chaney Brooks to open a sales office in Tokyo to market the property to Asian investors and is trying to reach frequent visitors to the Islands. So far, the sales agents have been meeting with tour operators and clubs, Farrell said.

“We’re reaching out to Japan-based Hawaii travel clubs, and other organizations around Tokyo that cater to really high-net-worth individuals who would be interested in a second home,” he said.

The goal is to put a tour of the Allure sales office on the itinerary for people planning to come to Honolulu, Farrell said. Several groups already have been lined up over the next two months, he said.

“No one’s going to sign on the dotted line in Tokyo,” Farrell said, noting that prospective buyers want to see the product up close before committing to a sale.

Starting in March, they also will be able to tour a model apartment on the seventh floor.

“You don’t think of, in that location, of the views being spectacular,” Farrell said of the building, which will have the Waipuna on one side and the smaller Pacific Business News Building on another side. “You get up to the seventh floor and it’s wide open.”

The developer also is offering buyers incentives and will discount prices, which start in the mid $600,000s for a two-bedroom, two-bath unit. The developer is offering investor buyers six months of maintenance fees, and is offering a complete furniture package through Pacific Orient Traders, he said.

The building is currently about 14 stories high and is completely open to the elements. That will change in about two weeks, when workers start installing the exterior windows, Farrell said. The number of workers on the job will double, from about 100 now to about 200 starting in January.

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