The state Department of Land and Natural Resources Land Division earlier this month awarded a contract to inspect the structural integrity of the former Country Club Condominium Hotel building to determine if it can be utilized for housing or another public purpose.

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The state Department of Land and Natural Resources Land Division earlier this month awarded a contract to inspect the structural integrity of the former Country Club Condominium Hotel building to determine if it can be utilized for housing or another public purpose.

The $8,600 contract was awarded June 9 to SSFM International Inc., a Hilo structural engineering firm, by DLNR Chair Ryan Kanaka‘ole, with an expiration date of June 10, 2027, to complete the contracted work.

The awarding of the contract comes about a month after the state Legislature approved $14 million in capital improvement funds to demolish the dilapidated six-story building on state land on Banyan Drive, which has been vacant since early last year.

In January 2025, Banyan Drive Management LLC — which had submitted a development plan containing $20 million in improvements for a long-term lease for the property — backed out of a temporary management arrangement for the building after the Board of Land and Natural Resources multiple times postponed a vote on BDM’s lease request.

The $14 million is for this fiscal year, which started July 1, and the planned demolition is part of an ongoing effort to redevelop and revitalize Banyan Drive and the Waiakea Peninsula.

According to DLNR spokesman Andrew Laurence, the department was approached by a third party “who is interested in the building’s potential for rehabilitation.”

“If that potential exists, DLNR is obligated to carry out due diligence and provide policymakers and taxpayers with information on all possibilities for public benefit, including potential revenue generation,” Laurence told the Tribune-Herald. “Once complete, the study will provide decision-makers with the range of possibilities.”

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Laurence said the inspection is not a prerequisite for environmental review before demolition. He added that if the structural integrity inspection finds the building should be demolished, then “DLNR will carry out its due diligence to determine” if an environmental impact statement or environmental assessment is required prior to razing the structure.

According to the county’s property tax website, the 1.16 acres of shore-front property at 121 Banyan Drive is appraised at $863,000, while the 152-unit building constructed in 1969 has no appraised value.

The building and its parking lot are cordoned off. The DLNR’s Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement is providing 24/7 security to prevent a repeat of events at the neighboring site of the former Uncle Billy’s Hilo Bay Hotel, which was demolished last year.

There, squatters caused additional damage — including at least one fire requiring Hawaii Fire Department response — after the building was condemned as structurally unsafe.

The contract for structural inspection of the Country Club was awarded the same day Gov. Josh Green signed into law Senate Bill 2001, the Banyan Drive redevelopment measure introduced by Sen. Lorraine Inouye, a Hilo Democrat.

The new law creates the Banyan Drive Community Development District within the Hawaii Community Development Authority — a public entity created by the Legislature to establish community development plans — to oversee Banyan Drive’s reboot.

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Email John Burnett at [email protected].