Derrick Penner
Sun
Sid Landolt (left) and Peter Dupuis are with S&P Destination Properties, which sold over $700 million in real estate at a luxury resort in Waikiki under the Trump brand. Photograph by : Ward Perrin, Vancouver Sun Files
Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake need 12 bedrooms
Michelle Pfiffer: selling up
Well-heeled pleasure seekers, tantalized for months with the prospect of living a Donald-Trump-sized lifestyle in Waikiki, on Thursday laid down just over $700 million US in commitments to buy into the latest hotel and condominium resort marketed under the Trump brand.
Vancouver-based S&P Destination Properties handled the marketing job, and company president Sid Landolt called the sellout of all 464 units in the Trump International Hotel & Tower Waikiki Beach Walk a record.
Intrawest last claimed the one-day record almost a year ago with a $425-million US sell out of its Honua Kai resort project on Maui.
Landolt, speaking from the project’s Waikiki office, said that when the last buyer made the final selection, the sales centre exploded “like a New Year’s Eve celebration.”
Ivanka Trump, The Donald’s daughter and vice-president of development and acquisitions at the Trump Organization, said the success itself wasn’t a surprise.
“But just the volume of units we moved, in the amount of time we moved them, was definitely a shock,” Ivanka said in an interview.
Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka’s brother and executive vice-president in the family firm, added that selling $700 million worth of property in a day “is unheard of in real estate.”
However, while pre-registrations, line ups and one-day sales frenzies, such as the Woodward’s project which sold all its 536 units on April 22, might be commonplace in Vancouver, Donald Jr. said the concept was an experiment for the Trumps.
Their company typically works on real estate projects that sell units on a “yield-management” basis, where units are released for sale slowly to build up prices.
“This system takes care of some of that [price build-up],” Donald said. “These are great numbers.”
Ivanka added that though the tactic is unique, “it’s a great mitigation against changing climates and environments,” and they will “absolutely” do it again.
The siblings even bought a one-bedroom unit in the Waikiki project themselves.
S&P was hired by the Los-Angeles-based builder, Irongate, last winter, and opened its Waikiki preview centre in April.
Landolt said each of the 1,500 prospective buyers have been receiving information for between 60 and 90 days, enough time to line up financing and understand the legal agreements involved.
S&P consummated its seven-month marketing campaign Thursday with a by-reservation-only, simultaneous sales event in Waikiki and Tokyo.
While Landolt said Hawaii state law gives buyers up to 30 days to change their minds, every one of them signed unconditional contracts and were required to put down 10-per-cent deposits, with a further 10 per cent due when construction starts.
Buyers don’t pay the balance until the project’s closing, which is expected in 2009.
HAWAIIAN BUNCH
Selling luxury real estate on Oahu is no trick, really. Celebrities alone keep the market hot. Even the 6.7 earthquake on Oct. 15 hasn’t slowed things down, David Robins of Prudential Locations in Honolulu says. “We have had some serious celebrity buying and selling activity over here,” said Robins.
Daniel Dae Kim, who plays Jin-Soo Kwon on the hit ABC show Lost and was voted one of the sexiest men last year by People magazine, just bought a 3,500-square-foot house on Oahu for about $1.5 million US.
Cameron Diaz and singer Justin Timberlake recently bought a beachfront estate with 12 bedrooms and nine bathrooms in slightly more than 11,000 square feet. The property sold for close to its $16.9-million asking price.
Media mogul David Geffen just sold an oceanfront lot on Kahala Avenue, one of the most upscale streets in Honolulu, to a computer company for $35 million.
Michelle Pfeiffer and her husband, writer-producer David E. Kelley, are selling a 4,400-square-foot beachfront home on the windward side of Oahu, listed at $12.9 million.
Earlier this year, John Travolta and Kelly Preston sold their oceanfront Oahu home with a sandy beach and an indoor pool to fitness expert and actress Kathy Ireland for about $3 million.
And there is buzz among local real estate agents that Bill Gates is planning to build a home on Oahu and has purchased the site. The Microsoft billionaire’s house near Seattle is 48,000 square feet.
Source: Los Angeles Times
© The Vancouver Sun 2006
