BUSINESS BRIEFS
Mera Pharmaceuticals off OTC
Advertiser Staff and News Services
Mera Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Kona-based marine biotechnology company, has been removed from trading on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board market for failing to make required regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Shares of the company trade under the ticker symbol MRPI and closed trading yesterday at less than 1 cent each.
Mera Pharmaceuticals manufactures human nutritional products from microalgae. Earlier this month, it reported a fiscal first-quarter loss of $115,647.
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES BOOST TOURISM
The Christian Congregation of the Jehovah Witnesses of Hawai'i has booked its two international meetings at the Hawai'i Convention Center in fall 2009, giving the center a boost during a traditionally slow time.
The meetings, set for Nov. 19 to 22 and Nov. 26 to 29, are expected to draw a total of 24,000 attendees. They are expected to generate more than $100 million in visitor spending and more than $9.5 million in state tax revenue.
The group last held its international congregation event at the center in 2003.
GOLF SHOP WILL OPEN IN MAUI MALL
Lahaina Gateway Center said a golf and tennis shop will join its growing list of tenants at the new Maui shopping center.
Hawaii Golf and Tennis LLC has signed a lease for a 4,000-square-foot space at the 140,000-square-foot mall.
The store is expected to open in late summer.
Golf pro Rob McLeay is involved with the business, which offers lessons, computerized swing analysis, clothing, equipment, accessories and repair service.
KARASAKI JOINS AON CONSTRUCTION
Chad Karasaki has been named managing director of the Honolulu office of Aon Construction Services Group.
Karasaki, who will also serve as chairman and chief executive officer of the office, is the latest in a series of hires by Aon Construction Services Group to strengthen its presence in Hawai'i.
Aon Construction Services Group is a unit of Aon Corp., a provider of global risk management services.
Karasaki joins Aon from Marsh Inc., where he had worked for 22 years.
He was most recently head of Marsh's Hawai'i office and was responsible for managing many of the company's largest construction, development, hospitality and retail clients.
Karasaki, 45, has more than 20 years of construction risk management experience and has worked in the Hawai'i market for almost his entire career.
NAN LANDS ARMY DEALS WORTH $37M
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Honolulu District has awarded two contracts totaling more than $37 million to Nan Inc., doing business as Ocean House Builders, Honolulu, Hawaii.
The first contract, for $26.2 million, was awarded for a whole barracks renewal at Fort Shafter.
The design-build project is for a 156-person unaccompanied enlisted personnel housing facility.
The facility will have two-bedroom, one-bath units with a kitchen. It also will include a laundry, exterior boot-washing stations and mail access area.
The second contract, for $11.1 million, was awarded for a child development center at Schofield Barracks.
The project is a 195-child capacity standard-design center for children ages 6 to 10. The primary facility includes an outdoor activity area.
