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dirt racer
11-08-2008, 05:29 PM
http://www.starbulletin.com/business/20081108_ex-hawaii_raceway_to_foreclose.html



Ex-Hawaii Raceway to foreclose
By Kristen Consillio


POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Nov 08, 2008

A California-based private capital fund has filed to foreclose on the former Hawaii Raceway Park in Kapolei.
MKA Real Estate Qualified Fund I LLC filed the lawsuit Thursday in state Circuit Court claiming that HMC Irongate Hawaii Raceway Investors LLC defaulted on a $17.6 million loan issued in November 2005 to acquire and redevelop the 65.8-acre parcel into an industrial park.

HMC Irongate representatives couldn't be reached for comment yesterday.

The island's only raceway park just outside of Campbell Industrial Park closed in 2006 after the owner declined to renew the lease. Since then, individuals and groups have been searching for a replacement site to no avail.

The City Council approved last year a bill to rezone the former raceway park to industrial land, eliminating the possibility of reopening the racetrack. HMC Irongate, an entity created by Irongate Development of Los Angeles to redevelop the property, has been marketing the site since July for $25 million, according to broker Matthew Bittick, senior vice president of investment sales and leasing at PM Realty Group.

Irongate, which also is developing the 38-story Trump International Hotel & Tower Waikiki Beach Walk, planned to build about 90 lots at the industrial site and sell them to end users and investors, according to its Web site.

Plaintiff's attorney Neil Verbrugge didn't comment on why HMC Irongate hasn't been able to make payments required under the loan, whose maturity date had been extended to Nov. 30. HMC Irongate purchased the site in 2006 from James Campbell Estate.

HMC Irongate also took out an $11.75 million loan from Fremont Investment & Loan - since acquired by iStar FM Loans LLC - the senior lender on the property, in addition to the MKA loan, which is secured by the former racetrack site, according to the complaint. MKA holds the second position mortgage.

As of Sept. 30, HMC is in default on the principal balance of $10 million, interest and fees of $1.9 million and monthly fees of $757,328, bringing the total to nearly $12.7 million, not including attorneys' fees and other costs.

dirt racer
11-08-2008, 05:30 PM
I guess the property wasn't really worth $1 million/per acre like Councilman Gary Okino said it was. :rolleyes:

SM2-MSM
11-10-2008, 04:54 PM
Interesting.... do you think there is any way the racers could still get this property? It's obviously dropped in value a great deal. The zoning is the problem, but if someone comes up with a way to buy this, then that could be fixed?

dirt racer
11-10-2008, 08:22 PM
Interesting.... do you think there is any way the racers could still get this property? It's obviously dropped in value a great deal. The zoning is the problem, but if someone comes up with a way to buy this, then that could be fixed?

I don't see the zoning as a problem. It has now been rezoned to I2 which allows for a racetrack on the property. IDK why the writer of the article said that it was not possible for the racetrack to reopen. Perhaps she thinks that the property is so valuable as industrial that no one would continue with a racetrack there.

And yes, there are already people working on acquiring the property for racing. I think the chances of HRP reopening are pretty good. It will all depend on who ends up owning the property.