Alexander & Baldwin (A&B) is a commercial real estate operator focused on grocery-anchored retail and select commercial assets across Hawaii. A&B is the state's largest owner of neighborhood shopping centers. The company owns and manages approximately 4.0 million square feet of commercial space in Hawaii, including 21 retail centers, 14 industrial assets, four office properties, and 146 acres of ground lease holdings. Over its 155-year history, A&B has evolved with the state's economy and played a leadership role in the development of the agricultural, transportation, tourism, construction, residential and commercial real estate industries. A&B is privately held through a joint venture formed by MW Group, Blackstone Real Estate and DivcoWest.
History
Before annexation
In 1831, Dwight Baldwin (1798–1886) and Charlotte Fowler Baldwin were sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) as medical missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands. Reverend William Alexander and Mary McKinney Alexander arrived the following year.
Alexander & Baldwin was founded by their sons Samuel Thomas Alexander and Henry Perrine Baldwin (1842–1911) as Samuel T Alexander & Co., in 1870. The two purchased 561 acre of land on the island of Maui between Pāia and Makawao, on which they began to cultivate sugarcane.
The land the partners cultivated was semi-arid former