Western United Life Assurance Co., a subsidiary of Spokane-based Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co., has sold 29 lots in a beachfront subdivision on the north shore of the Hawaiian island of Oahu for about $29 million.


C. Paul Sandifur Jr., Metropolitans chairman and CEO, says the sale was very profitable and well received by prospective buyers. He says Metropolitan plans to hold a lot sale shortly at another north shore residential development site it owns, and says that sale could have a slightly higher total dollar value.


The infusion of cash is expected to offset any financial losses projected by Metropolitan for its 2003 fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, Sandifur says. The company had reported losses of $19.7 million through the first three quarters of the year, but its financial performance varies widely from quarter to quarter, and Sandifur says he feels the company is in good shape overall. It had net income of $3.92 million in its 2002 fiscal year.


Our business flow is good. Were getting the volume and yields that we want, Sandifur says.


The company has suffered some losses in the bond market that it believes wont be repeated and has had some significant lingering costs related to past sub-prime lending activity, but those, too, are shrinking, he says.


Even with the sales of the properties in Hawaii, Metropolitan still has substantial real estate holdings there and regularly is evaluating potential new investment opportunities, Sandifur says. It first began acquiring property there in the 1950s.


The most recent sale involved lots in a planned gated development called Sunset Beach Colony. Metropolitan bought the 19-acre site in June 2001 for $7.5 million, then last year made infrastructure improvements to it. The long, slender parcel stretches along a gently curving section of beach just north of the Kamehameha Highway. Lots ranged in size from 12,000 square feet to 24,000 square feet, and opening prices ranged from $350,000 for secondary lots to $1.5 million for waterfront lots.


Western United sold the bulk of the lots over a two-day period earlier this month in what it believes was Oahus first sealed offering, followed by a special lotterya procedure sometimes used to sell hot properties. Prospective buyers who werent successful in the opening sealed-bid process were given a chance to buy a property at the opening sales price on three remaining lots in the project.


The lot sale that Metropolitan is planning shortly will include five waterfront lots encompassing about 40 acres of land in what is known as the Dillingham Ranch area near Oahus northwest tip, Sandifur says. Metropolitan owns more than 2,600 acres of additional land there that it expects to begin selling later, and also owns about 200 acres of land at Hilo on the island of Hawaii that it probably will sell in the next year or so.