A loan on the Four Seasons Resort Maui was transferred to a special servicer after the borrower defaulted, Bloomberg News reported yesterday.

The loan has a balance of $250 million, according to Fitch Ratings. Dell Inc. founder Michael Dell and his family's private investment firm, MSD Capital LP, bought the 380-room property in 2004 for $280 million. The loan has been on a watchlist for default because of declining cash flows, according to a March report from Realpoint, based in Horsham, Pa.

Luxury hotels have been hurt by a decline in business and leisure travel during the U.S. recession.

GAY & ROBINSON FINED FOR CESSPOOLS

Gay & Robinson has been fined $110,000 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for failing to close 40 large capacity cesspools on Kaua'i.

The EPA order requires the company to close its Kaumakani large-capacity cesspool and Camp 6 cesspools by May, and cesspools at Pākalā Village by September 2011.

The EPA said five years had elapsed since a ban on large-capacity cesspools went into effect. It said the large cesspools are being closed to protect Hawai'i's water resources. Cesspools are used more widely in Hawai'i than any other state, said EPA spokesman David Albright.

Kula Lodge and Restaurant owner Fred Romanchak also was fined $51,000 after being issued warnings by the EPA. The agency said Romanchak had agreed to pay the fine and had installed a state-approved wastewater system.

HOKU BEGINS POLYSILICON PRODUCTION TESTS

Hoku Corp. said it has initiated pilot production of polysilicon at its Pocatello, Idaho, manufacturing plant.

Scott Paul, who took over as president and chief executive of Honolulu-based Hoku this month, said the making of polysilicon was a key milestone for the facility.

It said the testing is expected to last for as long as three weeks.