In March of 2020, high school senior Buddy Leong went on spring break only to never return to school in-person. Forced into virtual studies by the COVID-19 pandemic, he was left with a new virtual education schedule that was less-demanding and provided more free time. (more…)
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here’s a lot of fear. There are so many personal guarantees if this doesn’t work. It is putting my family house on the line,” admits Jon Muranaka, the new owner of The Counter franchise in Kahala Mall. Since October, Jon has been working full days in the restaurant serving up mouth-watering beef, chicken, Mahi, and even bison burgers with names like Old School; The Classic Cheeseburger; Nashville Hot, a buttermilk-soaked and batter-fried chicken sandwich; and The Impossible Burger, a plant-based burger alternative. Ironically, Jon has never worked in a restaurant or been an entrepreneur; but, mid-pandemic, he made an offer to the previous owner and banked on his knowledge from over twenty successful years in the financial and marketing industries.
Digital ads with search engines and rating sites like Yelp, a strong push on take-out options, and using his local-boy rep is how Jon steadily increased monthly sales and even exceeded last year’s pre-pandemic sales numbers. “I’m from Kaimuki and, yet, I had only eaten here once before I bought it,” Jon notes, as he explains why he felt the brand awareness was the push needed since the food was obviously already a hit. While COVID-19 restrictions are uncomfortable, he sees locals returning regardless, as many want to support local and appreciate Jon for working the place himself. His strong community spirit has led him to give away free meals during the pandemic through Helping Hands Hawaii, and he hopes to support other local businesses by bringing in local beers to the dine-in menu. One day, Jon also hopes to set up profit sharing for his employees to ensure that they feel they are a part of the team. While he doesn’t get much time outside of the restaurant these days, his family spends Sunday with him at The Counter trusting his gut that “when everything seems to align, you just have to make it work.”
In the Marines, leading a bunch of 18 to 20 year olds like that, you get to see who is genuine and who is garbage,” says Steven Sullivan, the Regional VP of Operations for Parallel Capital Partners, overseeing the Hawai‘i region. His management skills stem from hard beginnings in infantry life, which later transitioned into security services at the Waikiki Landmark in the late ‘90s before getting into real estate management at Harbor Court. Steven has had a range of professional experiences, including the Waikiki Trade Center, where he had to get creative with tenants like The Shack and Club Zanzibar. He had to keep business consistent and security strong while also dealing with drunken locals and tourists. Turning on the sprinklers or bright lights at 2:00 a.m. is a great way to force people to leave the premises and it is one of many tips he’s learned along the way. However, Steven’s greatest tip to success is mentorship and finding a good team. Behind the scenes of property management, leasing, and acquisition is a multitude of security, janitorial, parking control, maintenance, landscaping, window washing, and auxiliary support teams. Some of the property management systems cost thousands of dollars to operate and they take the right kind of people and specialized training to keep things running smoothly. Luckily, Honolulu attracts some amazing talent to draw from, which makes Steven’s job easier as he’s been able to work with leaders who really help the company’s tenants and clients. “My strength is recognizing good people,” says Steven. “I love meeting people who haven’t reached their max level yet and taking them to the best version of themselves.”
One of the people Steven credits his work-life balance to is his wife, Denise. He says the moment he gets off work from 5:01 p.m. until 7:59 a.m. the next morning, he tries to shut off work-related talk and essentially “works for his wife.” For Steven, making time together with his wife is crucial. He also uses his marathon training hours as time to sort through a problem, think out his next speech, or prep a solution in his head. The attraction to challenge comes from a place of wanting to understand the details behind the bigger picture and excitement is what keeps him engaged. “One single individual really passionate about something they believe in is what gets me involved,” he elaborates about how he came to be in his second term as Governing Chairman of Voyager Public Charter School in Honolulu. Beyond this passion, he sits on the board of directors for the Kaka‘ako Improvement Association and is a twenty-two-time marathon finisher.
From looking at your website, it appears that businesses that are reopening need to pay more attention to their air quality. Are you seeing a higher or different kind of demand for certain energy solutions and systems shifting from the pandemic?
We definitely have seen businesses using more energy by running their air conditioning systems more, leaving their doors open, and incorporating new appliances like air purifiers. During a pandemic, maintaining a safe and healthy environment takes on a greater importance than reducing energy consumption. However, businesses can do things to manage their utility bills due to increased consumption. For example, when no one is in a space, there has been no evidence that continuing to run the A/C provides any benefit. Minimizing the run time of this energy-intensive equipment is important. We also encourage businesses to look at other energy wasters and target those devices, since there isn’t much you can do when you have to address air quality. We have a number of resources and incentives available to help businesses reduce energy consumption and ultimately lower their electricity bill.
With everyone trying to save costs after the shift of 2020, are there some specific energy promotions or rebates you want to talk about that might not otherwise be well known to the public?
We recently announced a last call to apply for three of our current rebate offerings, including the Energy Advantage free LED lighting retrofit offer for small businesses and restaurants, the Electric Vehicle Charging Station (EVCS) Incentive Program, and doubled rebates for commercial kitchen equipment. These offers are available until June 30, 2021, or funds run out.
Energy Advantage: Free LED lighting retrofit offer for qualifying small businesses and restaurants. Projects must be installed and completed by June 30, 2021. After this date, LED lighting retrofits will no longer be free and revert to their original discounted rate.
Electric Vehicle Charging Station program: For eligible electric vehicle (EV) charging station installations, Hawai‘i Energy is offering rebates of up to $35,000. To date, $70,000 in rebates are still available for EV charging stations that are publicly available or serve EV fleets. To qualify, charging stations must be installed, activated, and made available for use between Jan. 1, 2021 – June 30, 2021.
Commercial Kitchen rebates: Restaurants can receive double rebates for ENERGY STAR® commercial kitchen equipment, including reach-in refrigerators and freezers, convection ovens, electric griddles, and commercial fryers. Applications must be submitted by June 30, 2021 to qualify.
For more information on Hawai‘i Energy business rebates, go to https://hawaiienergy.com/for-businesses/incentives.
Please describe yourself in three words:
Passionate; Strategic; Collaborative
What is your favorite quality in a team member?
Innovative—our work to reduce energy waste and be more efficient isn’t easy. I love it when someone on the team comes up with a new way or program to help Hawai‘i’s families and business save money by saving energy. It will take a lot of innovative solutions for Hawai‘i to reach its 100% clean energy future, and I’m proud to be working with a dedicated team that is always striving to serve our customers and our energy efficiency mission.
How has your career shifted from the impact of the 2020 pandemic?
Not all that much—at least right now. The pandemic has created financial hardship for residents and businesses alike, making our work even more important. In the first few months, we spent a lot of time helping people manage their rising electric bills from staying at home. Now we are more in the recovery phase, helping businesses reduce operational costs through energy efficiency. Our Energy Relief Grant has helped over 251 nonprofits and small businesses to date.
What is your current daily routine?
The pandemic created a new daily routine since I am mostly working remote and my kids are also remote learning. This has provided me more time in the morning to meditate and get centered, lay out what I need to accomplish, and sneak in a walk with my dog. In the evening there is no routine, but I do try to get in some exercise; make sure my kids are fed and doing ok with their homework; catch up on relevant news, industry trends, and sports; and hopefully enjoy a good craft beer!
What are your favorite virtual tools to use currently in business?
I don’t know if I have a favorite as all of it has been necessary in order to operate seamlessly in a mainly remote environment. Beside all of the standard web conferencing tools which are critical, we are upgrading our IT backbone to provide a better platform and ultimately level of service for clean energy contractors and customers. We are aiming to provide greater and greater self-service options as people have been much more open to this through the pandemic.
Did you always want this career track?
I always knew I wanted to do meaningful work, but I honestly didn’t know what that looked like. In my early years working for various electric utilities, I didn’t feel like I was making a difference. When I went into the private sector in 2005 to develop and construct clean energy projects, it was a game-changer for me to stay in the energy industry. Seeing how energy efficiency and renewable energy was saving the money while also helping reduce carbon emissions, I knew I wanted to further my career in this field. I have been fortunate to have a number of opportunities to lead great people, teams, and organizations who are equally passionate about the work and our mission. I am grateful for the five years I have had with Leidos managing the Hawai‘i Energy program. It has been the most rewarding work of my career.
What are two of the proudest accomplishments of your career?
Today solar parking canopies are all over the island, but ten years ago they weren’t. I am really proud of the work my team did with Chevron Energy Solutions when we built the largest solar parking canopy at the time on O‘ahu at the Oceanic Time Warner (now Spectrum) facility in Mililani. At nearly 1 MW, it made a huge impact on their bill, the environment, and ultimately paved the way for many more solar canopies in Hawai‘i.
I am also really proud of my team at Hawai‘i Energy. The success we have had helping Hawai‘i’s families and businesses has put Hawai‘i on track to achieve our energy efficiency goal to reduce energy consumption of 4,300 GWH by 2030. Thanks to the guidance and vision provided by the Public Utilities Commission, my team has been able to develop and implement programs to achieve these ambitious goals. From creating programs for nonprofits to specialized offerings for low-income customers, I am proud of the way my team always finds a way to rise to the challenge and collaborate with the several hundred Clean Energy Allies that implement these upgrades on a daily basis. The work becomes harder each year as we harvest the low-hanging fruit and move to the more difficult solutions.
Downtown Jamie Brown” met us at his office on Bishop Street, his hair still wet from a morning foil surfing session at Kaisers. He excitedly fired up a big screen monitor in his conference room to show us how Hawaii Commercial Real Estate’s merger with Elite Pacific LLC. is the final piece of his company’s business pivot.
A couple of years ago, Hawaii Commercial Real Estate’s business was dominated by leasing one of Hawai‘i’s biggest office complexes. Since investment property sales and property management generate more revenue than leasing in today’s economy, Hawaii Commercial Real Estate developed a holistic approach where the property team handles the acquisition, leasing, management, and disposition, as opposed to the more traditional commercial real estate practice of having different teams handle each of the three functions separately.
Brown took us on a tour to show us what he meant. First stop was the iconic corner of Bishop and King Streets, home to Bishop Square, Hawai‘i’s largest office complex and a property that Brown helped sell to the current owners. “We have leased and sold many of Hawai‘i’s big office, retail, and industrial properties; but, being the landlord agent for Hawai‘i’s second-largest office complex required a disproportionate amount of time and energy. So, we resigned from that project to focus our leasing business on what is called ‘tenant representation,’ where we work for the tenant and not the landlord.” Brown described how they just saved a big insurance firm about $1 million in occupancy costs over the next five years.
Next stop was 2 N. Hotel Street, home to Fête, Hachibei, Pizza Mamo (formerly known as Brick Fire Tavern), Encore Saloon, Daley, and Hawaii Office Centers. Brown and his team cold-called the Southern California developer who purchased the property previously known for seedy bars. They found tenants for the building, created cash flow, and then sold the building for the highest per-square-foot price in Chinatown at the time. “This building is Exhibit A on how we work as a team to help an investor create value in their investment real estate. With Elite Pacific, we have access to many more real estate investors, many of whom don’t know yet that they can create something like the 2 N. Hotel.”
About five years ago, Brown had a hunch that a significant synergy could be established with a large residential real estate brokerage. Residential agents have relationships with people who are real estate investors and own businesses. Yet, residential agents don’t typically ask their clients if they need help with commercial real estate. What if residential clients wanted to move up from owning a condo or house as an investment to an apartment building, retail center, office building, or warehouse? It would be a win-win-win situation, where residential agents could earn referrals from their relationships, their clients would be represented by commercial real estate professional specialists, and the commercial agents would have deal flow. The reverse could happen as well. Brown approached two of the largest residential firms on the islands, but neither shared his vision. “Then, one day in 2019, Paul Mayer from Elite Pacific, the parent of Corcoran Pacific Properties, called me saying he had the same idea and had 200+ residential agents.” Brown and Mayer closed on the merger in November of 2020. “We are only a couple of months in, and we are already sending and receiving referrals with Corcoran Pacific agents.” Brown continued.
Our last stop was 1164 Nuuanu, the former Pegge Hopper Gallery building. Brown and his team helped two investors deeply connected to the local arts scene purchase the property in August 2020. “That deal started just before COVID,” Brown said. “We encountered permitting issues, lender underwriting changes, and a stale appraisal, but we managed to close the sale with a COVID discount. The new use is really cool and includes a coworking center for artists.”
Brown finished his tour talking about the neighbor islands. “We handle business on the other Hawaiian Islands as well. We already have two Hawai‘i island agents with commercial listings, and with Elite Pacific and Corcoran Pacific Properties, their extensive networking capabilities, over 200 Hawai‘i agents, and eleven offices, we can now establish a statewide footprint and truly be Hawaii Commercial Real Estate!”
