American Savings Bank returns to Kalihi with new branch

American Savings Bank is redeveloping an existing building in the Honolulu neighborhood of Kalihi into a bank branch, an executive with the Honolulu-based company confirmed to Pacific Business News this week.

The subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. (NYSE: HE) and sister company of Hawaiian Electric Co. purchased the 13,008-square-foot building on a 27,235-square-foot parcel of land for about $3.9 million from KBC Partners. The property at 2130 N. King St. has a total assessed value of about $3.1 million, public records show.

Beth Whitehead, executive vice president and chief administrative officer for American Savings Bank, told PBN in an email that the company has been searching for a new location in the area since it closed its former Kalihi branch in late 2015. American Savings’ former bank branch that also was located on North King Street is now the headquarters, along with adjacent properties, of Tori Richard Ltd., one of the largest and most well-known resort aloha wear clothing retailers in Hawaii.

“The new American Savings Bank Kalihi branch will allow us to further serve the community while making banking easy and convenient for our customers,” she said.

American Savings Bank, which recently started construction on its new headquarters near Honolulu’s Chinatown, is in the early planning stages of its new Kalihi branch.

The bank expects its new 373,000-square-foot, 11-story headquarters on North Beretania Street to be completed in 18 to 24 months.

Duane Shimogawa covers energy, commercial real estate and development for Pacific Business News.