Bruce Stark, one of Hawai'i's most prolific real estate developers in the 1960s, '70s and '80s, is now fighting to hold onto one of his last assets in the state after two lawsuits were filed recently to foreclose on his stake in Waikiki's Canterbury Place high-rise.

Stark, who built close to 2,000 residential condominiums in Hawai'i before leaving in the early 1990s during the last economic slowdown, is being sued by Canterbury's management board and a lender.

In March, the tower's association of apartment owners sued Stark through his company, 1910 Partners, which built the 152-unit luxury tower at 1910 Ala Moana in 1977. The suit alleges that the developer quit paying monthly expenses on commercial space he owns and leases to two restaurants, an office tenant and an operator of 110 parking stalls.

In April, lender Pacific Guardian Life Insurance Co. sued to foreclose on the same assets, alleging Stark defaulted on payments for a $3.5 million loan secured by the Canterbury property.

Stark, 73, said in an interview from Las Vegas, where he lives, that his commercial tenants, which include Singha Thai Cuisine and Todai Restaurant Waikiki, have been paying only partial rent or no rent. That, he said, has left his firm, 1910 Partners, unable to pay the mortgage and building expenses.

"When our tenants don't pay rent, it's hard to keep paying," he said.

The situation is somewhat similar to one that unfolded for Stark in the mid-1990s, when an economic downturn hurt tenants at the office and retail complex Waterfront Plaza, containing Restaurant Row, which were developed by Stark. A glut of office space that drove down rents also hurt the project, which Stark defaulted on and lost at a foreclosure auction in 1998.

But, unlike the Waterfront Plaza loan default, Stark's nonpayment of building operation fees at Canterbury has forced owners of the residential units in the building to cover the shortfall. On average, that's costing each owner about $350 a month.

PLENTY OF ILL-WILL

The association said Stark owes roughly $300,000 in maintenance and utility charges that haven't been paid since November, and that the assessment on residential owners was necessary to keep Canterbury operations solvent.

"The rest of us are having to pay because Bruce Stark has decided not to pay," said Canterbury resident Elizabeth Churchill, a sales and marketing executive with Aqua Hotels & Resorts. "He's an unscrupulous business man."

Stark said his move is simply a business decision, and that he's not legally required to take money from his other holdings to cover shortfalls of his 1910 Partners company.

Stark also said he quit paying utility charges and maintenance fees to the building for his commercial tenants — even though they were paying him some rent — because he believes the building association for years has overcharged him for such expenses.

"They've been overcharging us on all kinds of things — especially utilities — for many years," said Stark, who referred to the association of apartment owners as "pirates."

Alethea Rebman, president of Canterbury's association of apartment owners, said there's been no overcharging and noted that Stark, as an owner in the building, could have let an arbitrator resolve any dispute instead of ceasing payment.

"If Mr. Stark wanted this matter resolved, 1910 would have had dialogue with the (association) and not simply refused to pay its maintenance fees, thereby pushing costs off on its neighbors," Rebman said.

COLLECTING THE RENT

Last month, the building association began collecting rent directly from Stark's tenants at Canterbury to help offset the losses.

Chai Chaowasaree, owner of Singha Thai, said he preferred not to comment on the dispute because he's in the middle, but did say Stark has been very supportive of him as a tenant by reducing the rent during the current and past economic slowdowns.

David Jung, an attorney representing Todai, a sushi and seafood buffet restaurant, also confirmed that Stark had been providing rent relief for his client.

Some Canterbury residential unit owners said they hope Stark loses his stake in the property after years of bitter feuds between the association and 1910, which previously involved Stark partner Robert Pulley, who later sold his interest in 1910 to Stark.

The two sides have battled over utility charges, maintenance fees and capital expenditures. In one case, the association said, an arbitrator ordered Stark to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars related to chillers on the building. Another dispute over past maintenance fees came close to being settled last year but is still unresolved.

Stark said he will fight the association in court and settle with his lender in a strategy aimed at retaining his stake in the property and reducing his utility and maintenance fee charges.

"We're armed for bear," he said. "It's a good asset. It's worth saving. For 30 years we never missed a payment."

ONE OF MANY BUILDINGS

Stark, who achieved prominence in Hawai'i by developing luxury condo towers, often on leasehold land, built Canterbury with Pulley in 1977. The building was one of Stark's early projects.

Canterbury, according to Stark, was once designated "the fastest-appreciating building in the United States." Initial unit prices in the tower were around $200,000 — leasehold. Most of the buyers were investors from the Mainland and Japan.

Other Stark projects include the 24-story Wailana, completed in 1970 next to where Canterbury would be built; the twin Yacht Harbor Towers, completed in 1972 between Waikiki and Ala Moana Center; Diamond Head Vista, built in 1975 near Kapahulu Avenue in Waikiki; Royal Iolani adjacent to Iolani School in 1978; Admiral Thomas in Makiki in 1980 and Kaka'ako's One Waterfront Towers in 1990.

Stark also developed the Lanikai townhome complex Bluestone, the Waikiki Trade Center office tower, and Maui office building One Main Plaza, and was the sales agent for the luxury hillside subdivision Hawai'i Loa Ridge in East Honolulu.

Many of Stark's projects were done with partners, who included Pulley, Sheridan Ing, Jack Myers and others.

CANTERBURY 'PETTY CASH'

Though Stark had a string of high-profile successes, he also had his share of failures, which included the planned luxury Waterpark Towers in Kaka'ako in the early 1990s and fizzled plans in San Diego, New York and Las Vegas.

One Stark condo project in Hanalei, Kaua'i, proposed in 1979 with unit prices from $300,000 to $600,000 was left half-built in the mid-1980s after the condo market weakened and lenders gave up on an attempt to convert the project to a hotel.

A little more than 10 years ago, after losing Waterfront Plaza, Restaurant Row and Maui's One Main Plaza to foreclosure, Stark relocated to Las Vegas in search of better opportunities.

Since he left Hawai'i, Stark said he hasn't built anything prominent, but instead bought and sold some land during the recent U.S. real estate market bubble and bust.

"Sometimes they say the best deals in your life are the deals you don't do," he said. "I feel lucky."

Stark said he's personally not in financial trouble, and that he has $750 million in real estate deals in escrow around the world that are financed by private equity funds looking for distressed assets.

Canterbury, he said, represents "petty cash" to him, adding that the dispute with the building association is an irritation he intends to resolve.

"We will answer their complaint," he said. "It'll all play itself out."

Bruce Hunt, a tower resident, said he hopes the dispute is resolved in the association's favor and doesn't hurt the property. "I'd hate to see it end up something like the Ilikai," he said.

Commercial space at the Ilikai was repossessed from its owner last week by a lender after a bruising foreclosure battle.

Fellow resident Churchill isn't as kind in her prayers. "He needs to go down," she said of Stark. "Finally, I think a reign of terror is coming to an end."