A charitable foundation is giving Goodwill Hawaii more than just good will to help with an effort to redesign the organization’s chain of thrift stores and freshen up its brand.

Goodwill plans to renovate its store in Kaimuki this month, and said the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation is making the work possible on the first of 11 stores in the state. The renovated store at 3638 Waialae Ave. is slated to hold a grand reopening from April 1-3. The value of the foundation’s contribution was not disclosed. Local design firm 50|50 agency produced the image update.

Goodwill is a nonprofit and provides programs that include job training and job placement in addition to operating donation centers and thrift stores.

Katy Chen, Goodwill Hawaii’s chief administrative officer, said the organization is rebranding itself to reflect its connection with Hawaii.

The new look, which will be more local and feature elements that include aloha shirts and iconic Hawaii imagery, is to be rolled out to all Goodwill Hawaii program locations, donation centers and stores on Oahu, Maui, Hawaii island and Kauai. Vehicles and business cards also will be updated.

“We are extremely grateful for the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation who supported the renovations of the first store as well as the creative input of 50|50 agency in making this store revitalization effort a reality,” she said in a statement.

HELCO terminates bioenergy contract

Hawaii Electric Light Co. officially has terminated its contract with Hu Honua Bioenergy, a 21.5-megawatt power station on Hawaii island that converts biomass into electricity, according to a letter from HELCO President Jay Ignacio to the developer.

The utility terminated the contract on Monday because the facility failed to meet deadlines and provide assurances that it can be relied on as a firm renewable generation provider for the Big Island, HELCO said. In February, the utility filed with the PUC an intent to terminate the project by March 1 unless the developer could make a case to keep the contract in place.

Hu Honua failed to meet the Jan. 22 deadline to be in commercial operations. HELCO said Hu Honua must pay the utility $500,000 because it failed to meet the operations date.

Hu Honua has invested roughly $100 million toward completing the facility, which the developer said is approximately 50 percent complete.

Solar Impulse 2 ends maintenance flights

The Solar Impulse 2, the aircraft attempting to travel around the globe powered only by the sun, completed its maintenance flights, spokeswoman Elke Neumann said Wednesday.

A new set of batteries were successfully installed and the second maintenance flight was completed early morning Wednesday. The first maintenance flight was last week. Neumann said the plane is expected to leave Kalaeloa Airport no earlier then April 15 to fly to the mainland. The plane has been sitting at Kalaeloa Airport in West Oahu since it landed in July after flying nonstop from Japan. The five-day journey set a record for the longest solar flight both by time and distance. The pilots originally planned to fly on to Phoenix.

Hawaii tech spinoff gets $36M in financing

Referentia Systems Inc., a Hawaii-based cybersecurity technology developer and incubator, said Tuesday that one of its spinoff companies, LiveAction Inc., closed a $36 million Series B financing to accelerate its global growth.

“Closing this Series B financing led by Insight Venture Partners, a New York-based venture capital firm and one of the world’s leading software investors, enables LiveAction to continue to globalize our business,” according to Darren Kimura, CEO and chairman of LiveAction.

Kimura, originally from Hilo, was the founder of Sopogy, Inc., a Honolulu solar-energy company and has worked on a variety of projects in Japan, India and the United States, including the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan on Mauna Kea.

30-year mortgage rate ticks up to 3.64%

WASHINGTON >> Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates rose this week for the first time in two months, as global economic anxiety and market turbulence eased.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday the average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage increased to 3.64 percent from 3.62 percent last week. The benchmark rate remains below the 3.75 percent level it reached a year ago.

The average rate on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages edged up to 2.94 percent from 2.93 percent last week.

Economists saw some positive signs in the new data. The U.S. stock market started recouping losses from a brutal start to the year and ended Feb. 26 with a second straight weekly gain. That brought a break in the recent trend of U.S. government bond prices being catapulted higher as investors sought safety.

The decline in U.S. bond prices raised the yields on the bonds, which mortgage rates follow. Yields approached their highest levels in a month. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond stood at 1.83 percent Thursday, up sharply from 1.76 percent a week earlier.

Most experts don’t expect the Federal Reserve to raise the short-term interest rate it controls any time soon, following its rate hike in December.

On The Move

>> iQ 360, a communication firm, has announced Wendy Higashihara in the newly created position of project manager. She has more than 20 years of experience in civil engineering, including serving as manager and project engineer at Parsons Brinckerhoff as well as the United States Naval Facilities Engineering Command.

>> Turtle Bay Resort has announced that Brad Doell, director of sales and marketing, has been elected to the Oahu Visitors Bureau board of directors, which will take effect this month. He will serve for a minimum of one year. Doell has more than 25 years of experience in sales, marketing and operations, including serving as director of sales and marketing at Hilton Orange County and the St. Regis Monarch Beach in Southern California.

Ship Ahoy!

Today’s ship arrivals and departures: