Biz Quickies: Cigarettes, Dogs On A Stick, Liens, Bankruptcies

No More Tobacco Sales
CVS/Pharmacy, which owns six Longs Drug stores on the Big Island, will be quitting tobacco sales beginning in October, the company announced this week. Tobacco sales were inconsistent with the company’s goal of “helping people on their path to health,” and the move would position the company “for future growth as a health care company,” the CVS statement said. CVS/Caremark owns 7,600 stores in the U.S., and the company estimates a loss of $2 billion in revenue annually by halting the sales of tobacco products.

Home Prices Climb
Home prices rose 26% in January this year on the Big Island over what they were in January 2013, according to data provided by Hawaii Information Services, PBN reported. At the same time condominum prices increased 32%. Sales of single-family homes also increased, from 108 last year to 113 this year. Median price of a single-family home on the island is $334,000.

HPA Names Lewis
Lucy Frost Lewis will become director of advancement at Hawai’i Preparatory Academy effective May 1. Lewis will lead the financial development function at the school, including oversight of annual and planned giving, corporate, major gift and capital campaigns, grant research and applications and special events. Lewis recently served in a similar position at ʻIolani School on Oʻahu..

GGP Profits Spike
General Growth Properties (NYSE:GPP) reported a fourth-quarter profit of $77 million, or 7 cents a share, compared with $32.2 million, or four cents a share, a year earlier, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Chicago-based real estate investment trust owns and manages 120 shopping malls in the US, including Prince Kuhio Plaza in Hilo, Whaler’s Village on Maui, and Ala Moana Shopping Center on Oahu.

Hot Dog On A Stick Down
Owners of Hot Dog On A Stick have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in federal court in Los Angeles. The Associated Press reported HDOS Chief Executive Dan Smith saying that expensive leases signed during the booming mid-2000s and “declining mall foot traffic in recent years” led to the filing. The California-based company has about 93 locations, including one in Hilo’s Prince Kuhio Plaza in Hilo, and expects to continuing operating while reorganizing.

$35M Lien Filed
Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co. Inc., is pulling the last of its workers from the troubled Hu Honua Bioenergy project in Pepeeko after filing a mechanics lien saying it’s owed $35 million by Hu Honua, PBN reported. Hu Honua is refurbishing the former Hilo Coast Processing Co.’s power plant to provide up to 10% of the island’s energy need by burning biomass but has not received its final regulatory permits and approvals.

Waikola Highlands
Faris Lee Investments has listed the 7-acre Waikoloa Highlands Center in Waikoloa Village for sale at $23.7 million. The shopping center is anchored by the KTA Superstores-owned Waikoloa Village Market and includes tenants First Hawaiian Bank and Chevron. PBN reported that the price has been increasing since first put on the market in 2010 for $19.9 million.

Scholarships
HFS Federal Credit Union has launched its 2014 scholarship program for graduating Big Island seniors. Download applications here. Deadline is March 29.

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