BUSINESS BRIEFS
Honolulu Festival a 'great success'
Advertiser Staff
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Last month's Honolulu Festival provided a much-needed boost to Hawai'i's struggling tourism industry, generating an estimated $10 million in visitor spending and nearly $1 million in total tax revenues.
The 15th annual Honolulu Festival, held March 13 to 15, drew more than 5,200 visitors — mostly from Japan — who came specifically to take part in the weekend of festivities, according to the Honolulu Festival Foundation.
"This year's Honolulu Festival was a great success for all involved. People seemed to really appreciate being able to enjoy for free the variety of cultural entertainment and exhibits," said Keiichi Tsujino, president of the Honolulu Festival Foundation.
In addition, the Festival's "Friendship Gala" fundraiser on March 14 generated more than $52,000 in support of Hawai'i educational and cultural programs.
COMMERCIAL PROPERTY SCORE HIGH
Honolulu had the third-strongest commercial real-estate market among metropolitan areas in the first quarter, according to a ranking by Moody's Investors Service.On a scale of 0 to 100, Honolulu scored 60, the third-highest ranking after Oklahoma City at 72 and Pittsburgh at 61. Rounding out the top five were Wilmington, Del., at 57 and San Francisco at 55.
Honolulu's score was down from 72 in the fourth quarter when the city ranked fourth-strongest. In the third quarter of last year, Honolulu was the top-ranked city with a score of 81.
In the first quarter, Moody's gave the country a composite score of 42, down from 58 in the fourth quarter.
PACIFIC ATELIER BUYS AV BUSINESS
Local architecture firm Pacific Atelier said it has purchased Projectors Hawaii, an 11-year-old audio-visual company.Hale Takazawa, principal of Pacific Atelier, said the acquisition will allow the company to broaden its scope and help it weather the economic downturn.
"Now we have a design reach that helps us with concept presentation and the development of training rooms, classrooms, theaters, telemedicine, teleconferencing, retailing, digital signage and other technologies that are fundamentally changing the way we design buildings," Takazawa said.
Projectors Hawaii, which employs seven people, has done audio-visual installations for the government and private sector. Pacific Atelier's projects include master planning for Ko Olina Resort and Princeville Resort, the Cole Academy and Royal Palms at Po'ipu.
