Over the past decade, automobile dealers have been aggressive buyers and
tenants on commercial real estate in Hawaii. With the contraction of
the automobile market, there is less demand from dealers for this real
estate. In 2010 automobile sales made a 11% recovery, but doing so on
much less land across the state.

These parcels of land, typically, are larger and well located on major
thoroughfares. These properties are excellent redevelopment
opportunities and will provide development sites for some of the growing
retailers within our state. Like much of our investment real estate, a
large portion of these auto dealerships are located on leasehold land.
Depending on the term left on the land lease, they may still have a
valuable asset to sell or sublease. Look for more prime land on these automobile dealership sites to free
up, even over the next couple of years.