Centex Sells Hawaii

Centex Destination Properties, the big public builder's new second home and resort housing division, is having a field day selling condos and single-family homes at Ko Olina Kai, the firm's first resort project on Oahu, Hawaii, - after an initial huge success on the big island of Hawaii. The Dallas-based Giant seems to have a lead on the other big publics in tapping the second-home bonanza.

"Our first project was Kolea on the big island," Michael Kosmin, vice president of sales and marketing, reports. "We sold out of several phases of condos and beachfront lots. We have three lots left. So we decided the Hawaii market really is coming back. We met with Jeff Stone, the managing partner of Ko Olina Resort on Oahu, which is the only resort on Oahu. It has a golf course, hotel and a timeshare resort. We bought a parcel right in the middle of the golf course, where we're building 60 detached homes and 264 condo villas," Kosmin says.

CDP started sales on the first 120 condos and 46 detached homes -and wrote 75 contracts just as PB was going to press. "We had a three-week registration period, before we opened sales, where people put $10,000 in escrow accounts," Kosmin says. "We got 450 reservations in that three weeks. They've never seen pricing like this in resort product. We are selling at $450 a square foot."

The condos are 1,200 to 1,700 square feet, priced at $475,000 to $700,000. The detached homes are 1,850 to 2,200 square feet, priced $930,000 to $1.4 million. "The boom in Hawaii is only a year and a half old," Kosmin says "but the stars are aligning for Hawaii now."