According to Journal sources the Tokyu Development Property the site of the old Tokyu Hotel located between the Pacific Islands Club and the Ypao Beach Park is in the process of being sold for about $20 million. The transaction is not completed but the property is under contract to sale. The sale is expected to be completed between March and April. It is reportedly being sold to a group of Korean investors who have partnered up with a local company.
The property is owned by CBA Development LLC a partnership of Wu family members in Taiwan and Guam with Fong S. Wu president of Sunny Plastic (Guam) Inc. and Pacific Sunny Development Corp. as the CBA’s president (See "Tokyu says sayonara with beachfront bargain" in the May 31 2004 edition of the Journal.).
The property is 41 659 square meters which equates to about 10 acres. CBA Development purchased the property for $115 per square meters which totals $4.8 million from Tokyu Micronesian Development Corp. The sale was close on May 20 2004.
In an earlier interview with the Journal Wu said after the purchase of the property "We will let it sleep for a while "¦ Hospitality is not our business so we have not made our minds up how to go forward with the development of the property."
W. Nicholas Captain president of the Captain Co. and Captain Realty Advisors; said that the property was sold at an increased price because "It was bought at the absolute downturn of the real estate market. [Now] There’s a lot of speculation and foreign investment that’s driving prices today "¦ it is a function of the demand of foreign investors and the optimism associated with the future growth of Guam’s economy."
Captain also said the property was a prime site for hotel or residential condominium development because of its size. "It could easily accommodate a major hotel or a mixed use project to include residential condominiums resort units or other tourist related developments."
Wu said that he could not discuss the sale because of a nondisclosure agreement.
Tokyu Micronesian whose parent company is Tokyu Dentetsu of Tokyo once owned other properties on Guam and had an affiliate Guam Pacific Tokyu Construction Co. Ltd. which built the Mangilao Golf Course Hotel Nikko Guam the newest PIC Guam tower and the First Hawaiian Bank building in Maite. Tokyu Construction was named 1992 Contractor of the Year by the Guam Contractors’ Association for work on the golf course and Nikko. Tokyu Construction first came to Guam to build the Tokyu Hotel on the same Tumon beachfront property which Tokyu Micronesian Development purchased from the late Sen. Joaquin Perez in 1968 for less that $20 per square meter. Tokyu Construction a subsidiary of Tokyu Construction Corp. of Tokyo built and owned Nimitz Towers in 1974 and sold them in August 1999. Tokyu also sold the Sunflower Villa to Kia M. Rahmani in April 2003 for about $1.5 million regarded as another buyer’s bargain.
The Tokyu Hotel opened in the early "˜70s but did poorly and closed. In April 1975 with the fall of Saigon the Tokyu beach property became a staging area in Operation New Life the housing of 112 000 refugees from South Vietnam in temporary camps around Guam. MBJ
