Genshiro Kawamoto's inventory of homes on Kahala Avenue shrank by one yesterday.

A demolition crew tore down the former palatial home of Hawai'i developer Chris Hemmeter that Kawamoto has owned since 2005.

The home was one of about 20 others owned by the enigmatic Japanese real estate tycoon along the street featuring some of O'ahu's most luxurious oceanfront estates.

Kawamoto could not be reached yesterday, but he had chipped away at the structure over the past few years and deposited numerous pagoda statues along with a few dolphin fountains on the property.

At one time, Kawamoto had said he intended to live part time at the address. But he also announced plans to convert several of his Kahala homes into public museums showcasing his collection of Western and Oriental art, and provide others to needy Native Hawaiian families.

Mostly though, Kawamoto's homes on the street have languished in disrepair and been vacant.

Lucinda Pyles, who lives several houses away from the old Hemmeter mansion, considers the demolition of the house an improvement. "That home has not looked like it was inhabitable for several years," she said. "It's a liability for the neighborhood."

Neighbors have complained for years about Kawamoto homes being invitations for vagrants, feral animals and other undesirable elements.

The city didn't order the demolition. But the city also said it didn't issue a demolition permit for the work.

Hemmeter developed the property at 4439 Kahala Ave. in the late 1980s with 8,547 square feet of living space between two dwellings.

The four-bedroom and five-bathroom beachfront house with fountains, a pavilion and tennis court was regarded as one of the most opulent Hawai'i homes when Hemmeter built it, but over the years it became tired.

Hemmeter, who died in 2003, sold the property for $12 million in 1992 to a company that lost the property to a Chinese bank. Local real estate broker and developer Don Eovino bought the estate from the bank's receiver in 2004 for $9 million, and had plans drawn up to redevelop the site with a modern $20 million abode.

As an alternative, Eovino offered to sell the property as is for $12.9 million, and Kawamoto snapped up the nearly 1-acre parcel for $12.2 million in May 2005.

Kawamoto acquired his roughly 20 homes on Kahala Avenue mostly between 2002 and 2006 for close to $115 million.

In October 2006, Kawamoto announced a plan to rent up to 10 of his homes to needy Hawaiian families, and said the plan would include filling in swimming pools and knocking down walls or fences to make the homes safer for small children and to give the tony neighborhood a less-exclusive atmosphere.

In 2007, Kawamoto provided three homes to Hawaiian families for free, but didn't follow through on moving more families into other homes as planned.

Last year, Kawamoto said he abandoned his charitable mission because of a complaint filed with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development alleging that he discriminated by providing homes to Native Hawaiians.

Even though HUD later ruled that federal fair housing law didn't apply because the homes ended up being rent-free, Kawamoto said he feared facing more charges of discrimination if he resumed his charitable housing plan, though his three initial homes remain occupied.