HILO — A Hilo businesswoman who filed a lawsuit last year against Hilo Lanes Inc., claiming its owners reneged on a signed deal to sell the property to her, has added a defendant to her lawsuit — the parent company of Cost-U-Less, the business next door to the long-vacant bowling alley.
Hilo attorney Robert Crudele filed an amended complaint on July 14 on behalf of M.S. Petroleum Corp., which is owned by Lorraine Shin.
The suit added as a defendant The North West Co., a Canadian conglomerate that owns the discount bulk grocer and general merchandiser. The filing claims North West made an offer to buy the property and Hilo Lanes Inc. accepted the offer while M.S. Petroleum’s $2.5 million deal to buy the property was in escrow.
The suit accuses Hilo Lanes of breach of contract and North West of interfering with a contract. It asks that Hilo Lanes be required to deed the property to M.S. Petroleum in exchange for the money due under the agreement.
In addition, the lawsuit also asks that Hilo Lanes and others making a claim on the property be ejected from the property; that Hilo Lanes and North West be enjoined from transferring, mortgaging or encumbering the premises; and that North West pay M.S. Petroleum unspecified monetary damages. The suit also seeks attorney’s fees and costs.
According to the civil suit, on Nov. 30, 2015, Hilo Lanes and M.S. Petroleum signed the purchase and sale agreement for the property, which has been vacant since May 2014. The document claims an escrow account was set up with First American Title Co., and Shin expended about $30,000 on a deposit and other expenses related to buying the 52,878-square-foot building on 3.7 acres of commercially zoned land.
The complaint alleges that despite the agreement, which M.S. Petroleum contends is a legal contract, North West submitted an offer to Hilo Lanes on Feb. 25, 2016, to buy the vacant bowling alley. It also claims North West intentionally and improperly induced Hilo Lanes to breach the contract by falsely representing that M.S. Petroleum “could not afford to purchase the property without leasing space on the property to a tenant like North West.”
The suit claims that North West made the alleged misrepresentations after becoming aware that Hilo Lanes had signed a contract to sell the property to M.S. Petroleum.
It’s unclear if North West owns the 2-acre property Cost-U-Less occupies at 715 Kinoole St. County tax records list the fee owner as Makena Keoneoio IV LLC with a Glendale, Calif., mailing address.
The state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs website lists Makena Keoneoio IV as a foreign limited liability company incorporated in Delaware. Its only listed member is a McCoy Properties Inc., which isn’t listed on the DCCA website. The agent is listed as Eresidentagent Inc., a Los Angeles-based resident-agent company with an office in Honolulu.
DCCA lists Renton L.K. Nip as Hilo Lanes’ president, Robert L.S. Nip as vice president, Roanne Kaopua as secretary-treasurer and Roland Nip as director.
The county’s Property Tax Office website places the total taxable value of the Hilo Lanes property at $3,437,660, and indicates property taxes have been unpaid since Feb. 20, 2015, with the current amount owed in excess of $135,000.
The bowling alley, which opened in 1960, was shuttered in spring 2014. Since then, the outward appearance of the building has become increasingly dilapidated, and in January there was a fire on the property.
Crudele declined to comment on the suit, as did Shin — except to say she still wants the property. Both cited ongoing mediation in the case.
Hilo attorney Katherine Garson, who’s listed in legal filings as agent for North West, didn’t return phone messages seeking comment by press time Monday, and an email with questions to North West’s corporate headquarters went unanswered.
The suit is being heard by Kona Circuit Judge Melvin Fujino because Hilo Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura and retired Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara recused themselves from the case last year.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.