(BIVN) – The State of Hawai‘i wants to knock down an old hotel in the Hilo resort-area of Banyan Drive, and build a new one in its place.

On March 14, the Department of Land and Natural Resources issued a Request for Interest on Uncle Billy’s, more recently known as the Pagoda Hilo Bay Hotel. The DLNR wants to know if any prospective developers want to lease the resort lands in order to carry out a costly demolition before building a new hotel.

In February 2018, a Preliminary Demolition Assessment was published for three aged buildings in the Banyan Drive area.

The document, which also considered the demolition of the Country Club Condominiums and Reed’s Bay Resort Hotel, calculated the cost to demolish Uncle Billy’s at $8,287,605.

From the DLNR:

The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), Land Division, has issued a Request for Interest (RFI) relating to the former Uncle Billy’s Hilo Bay Hotel site, more recently known as the Pagoda Hilo Bay Hotel, located in Hilo, Hawaii, on Tax Map Keys: (3) 2-1-005: 033, 034, 035 and 045 (Site). The total land area of the Site is approximately 1.83 acres, more or less.

The purpose of the RFI is to gauge whether there is interest among prospective developers in obtaining a long-term lease of the Site for hotel-resort purposes that would include an obligation to conduct an environmental assessment (EA) or environmental impact statement (EIS) for the demolition of the existing structures on the Site and construction of a new hotel thereon, secure the permitting and approvals needed for the demolition and new construction, complete the demolition, and construct a new hotel on the Site.

The RFI additionally seeks to estimate the amount of rent credit that would induce a potential developer to incur all costs associated with the demolition of the existing structures and construction of a new hotel, including the cost of conducting the EA/EIS.

The DLNR will take submittals up to 4 p.m. HST on April 30, 2018. For more information on the RFI including submission instructions and other relevant information, please visit the website, or contact the Land Division by email at dlnr.land@hawaii.gov.