An affiliate of New York-based real estate financing firm Gramercy Capital Corp. is keeping Makalei Golf Club and adjacent land planned for a housing subdivision on the Big Island after a foreclosure confirmation hearing failed to drum up another acceptable buyer.

The Circuit Court hearing Thursday in Hilo attracted three other bidders, but they didn't bid high enough to pay off a $23 million debt on the property held by Gramercy, which credit bid $12.9 million to keep the asset.

The confirmation hearing followed a foreclosure auction in May at which only one other bidder made an offer under $5.5 million.

The golf course and adjacent land, mauka of the private luxury Kuki'o residential subdivision and golf club, cover more than 1,500 acres of agriculture-zoned property approved for about 180 single-family home lots.

Once part of Huehue Ranch, the property was envisioned in the late 1980s as an "agricultural subdivision" integrating homes with a golf course, tennis club, cattle ranch and equestrian facilities. But only the golf course was built.

Three years ago, an affiliate of San Francisco-based Lynch Investments LLC bought the property with a plan to develop house lots and upgrade the golf course, but defaulted on its loan.