Guam’s hotels are selling as interested investors eye the real estate market against the background of an economic upswing.

As previously reported (See “Gigantic Orix wants PIC Guam” in the Jan. 24 edition of the Journal) the purchase by Orix Corp. of InterPacific Resorts Corp. which does business as Pacific Islands Club Guam is on track to close. Journal sources said the sale would be inked on May 31 but could not confirm that Ken Corp. new owner of the Aqua Resort Saipan was involved in the sale. Orix Real Estate and BlueWave Corp. the Orix group’s hotel management company are involved in the contract negotations.

Orix Corp. first entered the Guam market May 2 2003 when Taico Venture Corp. opened Orix Rent-A-Car services.

In October the PIC lease was said to be on offer for less than $100 million. PIC is subject to a lucrative ground lease. The lease term is for 95 years from Oct. 1 1967 through Sept. 30 2062. In the first 20 years the ground rent was $7 000 per year then on Oct. 1 1987 a renegotiated rent was established. The Sholing family receives $1.99 million a year and under current lease terms will receive $20.56 million a year in 2062.

Bartley A. Jackson general manager of PIC told the Journal he had no comment on the sale but did say he could not confirm any details. PIC does not expect any change of management or of the management team. PIC consists of 790 rooms a water park retail space and offices with a gross building area of 642 237 square feet.

Phillip J. Flores president of BankPacific and Casa De Flores Inc. which does business as the Inn on the Bay in Agat said the Casa De Flores group is selling the hotel property. “People have showed interest in the property but there aren’t any offers put on the table yet ” he said. The Inn on the Bay property asking price is pegged at $4.5 million. The hotel was 70 rooms at a total of 44 100 square feet a bank and space for a restaurant.

Santa Fe is also on the market for $5 million after GL Commercial Real Estate 1 LLC acquired the 50 000-square-foot hotel on July 28 2003. GL is a division of Lehman Bros. Lehman Bros. purchased the note from mortgage holder LB Guam Opportunity LLC which purchased the lien on the property from First Commercial Bank on June 18 2002. Santa Fe Corp. formerly managed the hotel but filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on July 27 2001. GL contracted FlexStay Services LLC a subsidiary of GL as the management company for the hotel. The Journal understands more than one buyer is interested in the Santa Fe. (See “Lehman Bros. company puts Santa Fe up for sale ” in the May 2 edition of the Journal.)

As previously reported other hotels recently sold include the Guam Reef and the Nikko Hotel Guam. MBJ