HECO renews Iowa biodiesel firm’s pact

An Iowa-based company will continue to sell biodiesel to Hawaiian Electric Co. for the utility’s 110-megawatt generating plant in Campbell Industrial Park under an agreement the companies announced Monday.

Renewable Energy Group will supply 3 million to 7 million gallons of biodiesel annually for three years. REG’s current biodiesel contract with HECO expires at the end of this year.

REG outbid other suppliers to win the contract extension. Terms of the contract, which was submitted to state regulators for approval, were not disclosed. The price also was not disclosed.

The Campbell Industrial Park plant is the first utility-scale combustion turbine run entirely on biodiesel. The fuel is made from cooking oil and waste animal fat.

Honolulu office market losing occupancy

Honolulu’s office market continued to lose occupancy in the third quarter, but at a slower pace than in the two previous periods.

The market, which has been losing tenants since mid-2008, saw 38,612 square feet of more vacancies during the quarter as the available space exceeded space being leased. That was down from 98,605 square feet in the second quarter and 76,185 square feet in the first quarter, according to a survey released Monday by Hawaii Commercial Real Estate LLC.

Of the 10 submarkets tracked by the survey, five lost occupancy, four remained flat and one market, the airport area, increased occupancy. The islandwide vacancy rate now stands at 14 percent, with a range of 3.6 percent in East Honolulu to 24 percent in Waikiki.

Average asking gross rents (base rent plus full-service operating expenses) were $2.98 per square feet per month, unchanged from the second quarter and 2 cents a square foot per month higher than this time last year.

Goodwill opens new center in Kona

Goodwill Industries of Hawaii Inc. has expanded to Kona on the west side of Hawaii island with a new retail store and donation center.

The store, at 74-4786 Kanalani St. in Kaloko Industrial Park, will stage its soft opening Friday and will operate from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays.

It is the second Goodwill store in Hawaii County, allowing an option for residents to drop off used clothing and household items and to find good deals. The grand opening of the ninth Hawaii Goodwill store will be in December.

Rallies buffer October jinx on Wall Street

NEW YORK » October is somewhat cursed for the stock market — the Crash of 1929, Black Monday in 1987, a slow-motion meltdown in 2008. This time the demons made a last gasp, but Wall Street still managed to break the jinx.

Stocks had their best month in almost a decade, rising from their low point of the year in an almost uninterrupted four-week rally. The juice mostly came from Europe, which appeared to finally find a strategy for taming its debt crisis.

But the finish sure was ugly. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 276 points and finished below 12,000 on the final day of the month. It was as rough an end as it was a beginning: On the first trading day of the month, Oct. 3, the Dow lost 258.

For the month the Dow rose more than 1,000 points. It gained 9.5 percent, its best showing since October 2002. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index, the broadest major market average, rose 10.8 percent for the month, the best since December 1991.

On Oct. 3 both the Dow and the S&P closed at their lows of the year. The market had been through a brutal summer and was one bad day away from falling into bear market territory, down 20 percent from its most recent peak.

Macy’s to open at midnight on Black Friday

NEW YORK » Macy’s Inc. says it will open all of its namesake stores at midnight on the day after Thanksgiving for the first time. It becomes the latest retailer to extend hours on Black Friday, the traditional kickoff to the holiday season.

More than 800 Macy’s stores will stay open for 23 hours and close at 11 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 25. That compares with last year when Macy’s opened eight stores at midnight while the rest opened at 4 a.m.

Martine Reardon, Macy’s executive vice president of marketing, said the midnight openings are a response to customers’ requests.

"People want to shop through the night," Reardon said.

Last year Sears and Kmart stores opened Thanksgiving morning for the first time. Toys R Us stores opened at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. Many Gap Inc. stores also were open. And Walmart opened most of its stores by midnight that evening.

Target Corp. became one of the first retailers to announce its Black Friday hours this year. The discounter said on Friday that it would open its doors at midnight for the first time ever and offer Black Friday specials at that time. Like Macy’s, it plans to stay open 23 hours. More merchants are expected to announce their hours and deals for the Thanksgiving weekend in the next week or so.

ON THE MOVE

Kauai based Aqua Engineers, Hawaii’s largest and most experienced water and waste-water management company as well as one of the state’s largest defense contractors, has named Sheldon Hunt as president and general manager. He will be responsible for running Aqua Engineers and its subsidiary, Briant Construction, which is a mechanical contracting company. Hunt has more than 25 years of engineering experience working with the military and private sector.

The Hawaii State Bar Association has named Patricia Mau Shimizu as its new executive director, effective Dec. 1. She is the current chief clerk of the Hawaii State House of Representatives, a position she has held since 1993. Shimizu has worked with the state Legislature for 28 years.

State Farm Insurance has announced the following agent appointments:

» Jeremy Dunaway‘s office is in the Wahiawa Shopping Center. He started his State Farm career in 2007 as an agent team member and agency field specialist.

» Linda Sovola‘s office is in Azeka Shopping Plaza in Kihei, Maui. She was previously a co-owner of a midsize property management firm for 12 years and has more than 25 years’ experience in property management.