Blackfield Hawaii Corp. v. Continental Properties, Inc. (In re Continental Properties, Inc.)

17 B.R. 143, 1982 Bankr. LEXIS 5148
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Hawaii
DecidedJanuary 4, 1982
DocketBankruptcy Nos. 81-00436, 81-0091
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 17 B.R. 143 (Blackfield Hawaii Corp. v. Continental Properties, Inc. (In re Continental Properties, Inc.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Hawaii primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Blackfield Hawaii Corp. v. Continental Properties, Inc. (In re Continental Properties, Inc.), 17 B.R. 143, 1982 Bankr. LEXIS 5148 (Haw. 1982).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW AND ORDER

JON J. CHINEN, Bankruptcy Judge.

The above-entitled complaint to lift stay having come on for trial beginning on October 19, 1981, and the Court, sitting without a jury, having considered the witnesses and evidence presented by the parties, makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law.

1. Defendant Continental Properties, Inc. (hereinafter “Continental”) is a Hawaii corporation.

2. Plaintiff Blackfield Hawaii Corporation (hereinafter “Blackfield”) is a Hawaii corporation.

3. Intervenor Travelodge International Inc. (hereinafter “Travelodge”) is a foreign corporation authorized to do business in the State of Hawaii.

4. Blackfield holds the master lease to property located at Coconut Plantation, Kauai, Hawaii. On July 1, 1969, Blackfield subleased a portion of the master leased property to Travelodge. The property under said sublease is referred to herein as “Property”. The sublease required the lessee to build on the Property a first-class resort hotel which would consist of no less than 190 or more than 340 hotel rooms.

5. On October 3, 1978, Continental and Travelodge executed a DROA for the sale and purchase of Travelodge’s interest in the Property for $700,000.

6. The Court has heard and considered testimony of two appraisers, Irmgard Patterson on behalf of Blackfield, and Alan Conboy on behalf of Continental. The facts show that Mrs. Patterson, who is an MAI, spent considerable time in doing research studying the Travelodge lease and the economic conditions in Hawaii and arriving at her opinion as to the market value of the Travelodge lease.

7. In her appraisal report, Mrs. Patterson discussed the three methods of apprais[144]*144al: the reproduction cost approach, capitalized value or income analysis approach, and the market comparison approach. Mrs. Patterson stated that the reproduction cost approach was not used in the instant case because the Property is a vacant site. She then went into a detailed analysis of the income analysis approach and the market data approach.

8. In the market data approach, to arrive at the value of the land, in fee simple, as though unencumbered by any lease, Mrs. Patterson set forth in her report six compa-rables. Three of the comparables are located within the Coconut Plantation resort.

9. Transaction No. 1, also known as the Hirano site, adjoins the property in question. That leasehold, owned by Mr. Hirano and Mr. Hayashi, has been on the market for over a year with an asking price of $600,000. However, it remains unsold. The owners of the lease offered to return the lease to Blackfield free, but Blaekfield has refused the offer, demanding payment for nonperformance.

10. Transaction No. 2 is also within the Coconut Plantation resort. A hotel has been constructed on the property and it is now under the management of the Sheraton chain.

11. The third comparable in the Coconut Plantation resort is Transaction No. 6. Mrs. Patterson pointed out that, although this property is not on the beach, it is relatively small, with a good potential for restaurant use, and in close proximity to hotels and other resort facilities.

12. Transactions 3 and 4 are at Hana-maulu, Kauai. These two sites are along a beach, but compared to the subject property, have narrow beach frontage.

13! Transaction 5 is at Kapaa and is a condominium project.

14.Based on a study of these transactions, Mrs. Patterson arrived at the following value per square foot for each of the comparables:

Transaction 1 — $3.78;
Transaction 2 — $6.69;
Transaction 3 — $5.30;
Transaction 4 — $8.60;
Transaction 5 — $5.29;
Transaction 6 — $6.68.

15. Based upon this market data analysis, Mrs. Patterson arrived at about $8.50 for the Property, giving it a fee simple, unencumbered value of $4,000,000. By capitalizing this $4,000,000 at 8.5 percent, Mrs. Patterson arrived at an average percentage ground rent of $350,000.

16. To check on the result of her comparative approach, Mrs. Patterson used the anticipated income analysis approach. She carefully reviewed various leases, economic conditions, and the condition of the tourist industry in the islands, and finally concluded that for 324 rooms on the subject site, a percentage rate of four for rooms, one for food, three for beverages, and ten for concessions was proper. Based on this percentage applied to the projected gross revenue, she arrived at an annual rental attributable to the land at $355,200.

17. Based on 190 rooms, Mrs. Patterson used a higher percentage rate of 6.821, 1.705, 5.116, and 17.052 for rooms, food, beverages and concessions. Based on this higher percentage rate, she arrived at an annual rental attributable to land at $358,-714.

18. Mrs. Patterson then compared the market data investigations and anticipated income analyses and estimated the ground rent to be $350,000. With this $350,000 as the estimated annual economic rent, Mrs. Patterson estimated the subleasehold interest to be $285,000 after the completion of the hotel on the site with a strong operator in charge.

19. She next analyzed the Hirano lease on the adjoining property where the lease had been on sale for $600,000 for over a year without any buyers.

20. Mrs. Patterson then pointed out that under the Travelodge lease the sublessee has the right to construct a building on the subject site. This right may have value. But she also is of the opinion that the sublease may be a liability in today’s .market. In today’s market it requires payment [145]*145of minimum rent, $86,000 per annum, and real property taxes for a total of $100,000 a year. Because of the high cost of financing, high construction cost, and the weak tourist industry, especially on the neighbor islands, the sublessee may not obtain reasonable financing, and the sublease may become subject to default by reason of nonperformance. Thus, Mrs. Patterson is of the opinion in the instant case that the present value of the Travelodge lease is nominal, up to $10,000, especially because of the poor economic condition, the high rate of interest, high cost of construction, lack of reasonable financing, a short construction period in the lease, and the declining tourist industry, especially on the outside island.

21. Mrs. Patterson felt that, even if the subject property had been appraised on the basis of a condominium use, it made no difference in the result because of the present economic condition and other matters she has previously stated.

22. Mr. Conboy, a SRPA, and candidate for MAI, spent approximately 25 hours to arrive at the value of the Travelodge lease and turned in a one-page analysis in which he estimated the value of the Travelodge lease to be worth $905,870. However, in this one-page report, Mr. Conboy’s analysis is based on the wrong assumption. He has assumed that the subject property is already improved with a hotel with a base of income. He does not state the costs of constructing the hotel, nor the high rate of interest for financing.

23. In addition, in arriving at his opinion on the market value of the lease, Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
17 B.R. 143, 1982 Bankr. LEXIS 5148, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/blackfield-hawaii-corp-v-continental-properties-inc-in-re-continental-hib-1982.