Uncle Billy’s Hilo Bay Hotel will close Feb. 1, ending more than 50 years in business, the hotel has confirmed.
Uncle Billy’s Hilo Bay Hotel will close Feb. 1, ending more than 50 years in business, the hotel has confirmed.
Aaron Whiting, hotel manager and grandson of founder William J. Kimi Jr., said there were multiple factors leading to the closure, incluidng the expiration of the hotel’s lease.
“We have spent more than simply money in attorney’s fees, appraisal evaluations, business plans and, not to mention, keeping an aging property in service beyond its functional capacity; we have exhausted our emotional reserves,” he said in a press release. “It seemed unimaginable that our little iconic Hawaiian hotel that so reflects the heart and soul of the Hilo community, would one day not exist.”
Whiting said the 37 employees of the hotel and general store were told Monday.
Kimi started the 145-room hotel on Banyan Drive in the 1960s. According to the press release, he built much of the hotel himself.
The hotel received a one-year lease extension from the state that will expire in March. Afterward, it would become a month-to-month revocable permit.
No date has been set for when the general store will close, the hotel said.
The hotel’s Kailua-Kona location will remain in operation.