The state Land Board voted Friday to transfer the land leases for Uncle Billy’s Hilo Bay Hotel to Peter Savio, a move that will keep the iconic Banyan Drive business open at least another year.
The state Land Board voted Friday to transfer the land leases for Uncle Billy’s Hilo Bay Hotel to Peter Savio, a move that will keep the iconic Banyan Drive business open at least another year.
Savio, a Honolulu developer who was born in Hilo, said he will take over immediately and plans to maintain the nearly 40 jobs. The hotel will remain open during the transfer.
He said he will rebrand the 145-room hotel as Pagoda’s Hilo Bay Hotel after his budget hotel in Honolulu.
The hotel’s land leases were set to expire in mid-March, and it was planning to close Feb. 1 as a result.
The closure was postponed pending the Board of Land and Natural Resource’s vote.
Savio said the board agreed to extend the lease for a year, after which it will revisit the lease arrangements.
He said he hopes to eventually to build a new hotel on the property.