The Lingle administration said today it has made two proposals to purchase Turtle Bay resort and surrounding open space since the governor proposed the purchase in her January 2008 State of the State address.

Neither offer was accepted, Gov. Linda Lingle's office said in a news release. However, the administration is prepared to negotiate further to reach an agreement.

Administration officials told Lingle's Turtle Bay Advisory Working Group that the offers were made on Aug. 10 and again on Nov. 25, 2008, to the sellers of the property, Kuilima Resort Company, TBR Property LLC, Kuilima Mauka, LLC and North Shore Wastewater Treatment.

The terms of the offer were not made public.

The offers were made to the brokers representing Oaktree, the entity managing and proposing to develop the site, and the consortium of lenders.

"The offers were based on an appraisal of the property and recognize the importance of maintaining the current hotel operations as well as respect the desire of those who were interested in obtaining their leased fee interest under their condominiums," Gov. Linda Lingle's office said in a news release.

"Under the current economic and capital markets climate the state continues to be a qualified and, we believe, a preferred purchaser. We also continue to stand ready to participate in or facilitate a transaction that would preserve the majority of the land in open space," said Ted Liu, state director of Economic Development and Tourism.

Liu said the state's initial offer was not accepted and that its second offer on Nov. 25, 2008, expired on Dec.10, 2008.

The governor's Turtle Bay Advisory Working Group has been meeting to address how to acquire the property and preserve it for public use.