A South Korean company has bought a vacant lot on Kapi'olani Boulevard fronting Ala Moana Center with plans to develop a luxury condominium tower, extending Honolulu's residential high-rise boom.

The 1.43-acre site at 1391 Kapi'olani Blvd. sold for $26 million. The lot was previously home to an automobile dealership and is a block 'ewa of the Nordstrom store under construction.

At $417 a square foot, the sale is at or near record values set for the area in the early 1990s during the height of the speculative Japanese investment bubble.

"It's shocking," said Steve Sofos, president of Sofos Realty Corp. "It's a really high number."

The purchase suggests that Hawai'i's real-estate market hasn't cooled enough to dissuade developers from bidding up land values to new heights and from building riskier projects like condo towers that typically take two years to complete.

Ricky Cassiday, a local housing market analyst, said there has been some softening in sales of existing luxury homes on O'ahu, but new luxury home projects generally haven't been weakened by the broader residential real-estate market slowing.

"There hasn't been a slowdown at the high end (for new homes)," he said. "The further up in price, the stronger everything is."

Sam House Development LLC bought the Kapi'olani site last week from Motor Supply Ltd., which has owned the property since 1944 and received heavy interest from prospective buyers after a lease with a Cutter automobile dealership ended.

Sam House is affiliated with Seoul-based SamKoo Development Co. Ltd., a conglomerate that traces its history back to a cleaning supply manufacturing business started in 1958.

Rachael Chung, an agent with Concepts Unlimited GMAC Real Estate, which represented Sam House, said the buyer plans a luxury condominium. More planning still needs to be done to determine the size of the project, unit prices and a development timetable, she said.

The property has a 250-foot building height limit and is considered fairly ideal for a residential tower. That's in part because of possible ocean views at higher floors and proximity to Ala Moana Center.

The Sam House project is the latest announced residential high-rise in Honolulu, where roughly a dozen towers are in various stages of development, including seven presently under construction.

Four condominium towers have been completed in the past year or two, including luxury projects Hokua and Ko'olani in Kaka'ako. At least four more are still in the planning phase, including the 300-unit luxury project Allure Waikiki.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.