Alexander & Baldwin Inc. has sold the 18-story office building Pacific Guardian Tower on Kapiolani Boulevard across from Ala Moana Center to a Japanese financial services company for $38 million.

A&B, through subsidiary A&B Properties Inc., sold the 130,600-square-foot tower to Maruito USA Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Japan-based Maruito Group.

Pacific Guardian was built in 1989 and was bought by A&B in 2001 for about $23 million, according to property records. During A&B's ownership, the company said it upgraded the building's exterior, increased tenant occupancy from 74 percent to 95 percent and improved average net rent by 34 percent.

A&B expects to use proceeds from the sale to invest in other commercial real estate on a tax-deferred basis.

CREDIT UNION WARNS OF PHONE SCAMMER

Hawaii Central Credit Union is warning the public not to respond to a phone scam in which a caller purporting to be from the credit union seeks confidential information.

The scammer has called both credit union members and nonmembers, saying their account or credit card has been compromised . The caller asks for confidential information to be submitted either verbally or through the phone's keypad.

Credit union officials said the calls are bogus and warned anyone receiving such a call not to give out any information. Hawaii Central Credit Union said it never requests confidential information via the telephone.

For more information, call the credit union at 536-3677.

ISLE POWER GRIDS GET $5.3M STIMULUS

Hawai'i will get $5.3 million in federal stimulus money that will be used for projects modernizing the state's power grids.

The money is part of a $3.4 billion nationwide effort for renewable energy promoted by President Obama.

The money will go to Hawaiian Electric Co., Referentia, the University of Hawai'i and the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute to promote "smart grid" projects, such as installing programmable power-usage monitors in homes.