I took a small dip this morning into the information pool on the Trump International Hotel and Tower at Waikik Beach Walk.
Two bits of information. First, the Waikiki project, like other Trump-branded buildings, does indeed pay licensing fees to President Donald J. Trump, according to the condominium report on file with the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.
If you don’t want to wade through the whole thing looking for the Trump licensing info, I’ve pulled out the two pages with the relevant information.
The actual amount of the licensing payments is not reported.
Then I thought it would be interesting to see who owns the units in Honolulu’s Trump Tower.
I’ve printed a summary of the owners list, based on state real estate records, which shows the name of the reported owner, county or city/state where the tax bill is addressed, and the tax assessed value of each unit.
You can see that there are probably a lot of foreign corporations which are registered in Hawaii and are listed at Hawaii addresses.
Hopefully those quick links will work. If not, please let me know.
I hope that some of you will browse the owners list and share your thoughts.
Discover more from i L i n d
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Great find Ian!
Here are the Trump Waikiki owners with the largest tax assessed values; most of them own several units. Irongate was the developer.
IRONGATEAZREP BW LLC $32,377,200
SLBW LLC $8,888,500
LIEN INC $7,269,600
SUTTON FAMILY PARTNERS $7,146,600
ABE, YOSHIKAZU $6,710,500
IWAMI, EUGENE $6,547,200
AKIMOTO, YASUSHI $6,307,500
KUMAGAI, MASATOSHI $6,220,600
FUJITA, SUSUMU $6,192,600
JABRON MANGO CO $5,798,700
SENHA & CO $5,659,600
KYORAKU INDUSTRIAL CO LTD $5,538,500
ESY LLC $5,099,500
PINKSTON HAWAII LLC $4,997,200
ZEMAN INTERNATIONAL LTD $4,483,800
SLBW LLC is a shell company with the mailing address of Hollywood business management firm Tanner Mainstain Glynn & Johnson. (Tanner had a public run-in with 90210 actress Shannen Doherty, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2015.)
PINKSTON HAWAII LLC: Gary L. Pinkston founded Meridian Pacific, Ltd. in 1988. Meridian Pacific is a real estate owner/developer in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Texas, and Kansas. From 1993 to 2009 Gary Pinkston was the financial advisor to the Hawaii Carpenters Union.
JABRON MANGO CO: Owned by Jacquelline Johnson and sister Bronwen Welch, both from Honolulu.
ESY LLC used to be called “SUNDAY’S SECOND CHILD, LLC”
PBN 2013: The buyer of four units at the Trump International Hotel Waikiki Beach Walk is suing the developer, Los Angeles-based Irongate, for breach of contract, claiming the developer failed to return the excess deposits and refused to instruct the escrow company to release the funds, according to a lawsuit filed recently in 1st Circuit Court in Honolulu. …
According to the lawsuit, in 2006, Ingrid Wang signed contracts for the entities Sunday’s Child LLC, Sunday’s Third Child LLC, Sunday’s Fourth Child LLC and Sunday’s Fifth Child LLC to buy four condominiums at the Trump with each paying 20 percent of the purchase price of the units as a deposit to Irongate.
The deposits for the four units amounted to about $1.4 million, with the combined purchase prices at around $7.2 million, the lawsuit said.
I will go over the records more completely but this mirrors property tax records I have seen more generally. Lots of shell companies, mostly out of state ownership, for these out of state owners, missing “trusts”. There is a history here. In 2006 the Hoku sold out at $1 million average price per unit. Their press release quite proudly stated that 66% of the units went to “full or part time residents”. The rest? The wealthy invest in Honolulu real estate through home sales, especially luxury condos. But the condo association is a poor legal form for absentee owners and money launderers, you have to reside in the building and have sufficient residents to operate an association. Hence condo hotels like Trump Tower and the Ritz, which can be privately managed without an association. So the next step, what proportion are owned by local residents? How many shell companies? Trusts?
Actually, the Trump Tower in Honolulu is a condominium with a condo association in charge, and a local managing agent.
Trump took an oath to uphold the Constitution but somehow the emoluments clause has never registered with him and no other branch of government seems capable or willing to remind him of it.
I’m confused. Why do you think anyone would be interested in who own units in that building?? Enlighten me O wise one…
They offered two units to Don Ho, but his estate never got them. Instead it went to his tax attorney Charles Rettig.