The Wild Ginger Rebuild Waits on a Permit
A Special Management Area Use Permit application from BHG Aloha LLC sat on the Windward Planning Commission’s agenda for its 1 October meeting. The company does business as Wild Ginger Hotel. The application seeks to construct and operate a 30-room hotel complex on the 1.6-acre site at 100 Puueo Street in Hilo. Commission chairman Louis Daniele III told the meeting in the Hawaii County Council Chambers: “This matter has been deferred by the applicant.” The commission gave no reason for the deferral and held no further discussion.
No Rooms Are Bookable at the Site Today
The property listed four room types: a standard room with one double bed, a superior room with one king bed, a premium room with one king bed and an ocean-view suite with two double beds. The reservation path ran through a third-party booking widget, and the site set free cancellation up to one day before arrival. Office hours ran 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Hawaii time, with after-hours check-in on request. This desk read those pages on 14 October 2026.
The building that carried those rooms burned on 22 October 2025. Department of Public Works Building Division records show about 95 percent of the 1911 structure burned, and the remaining structure was deemed irreparable. The fire killed 66-year-old hotel resident Gerald O’Grady.
What the Application Would Put Back on the Market
Plans submitted by BHG Aloha call for five buildings: three two-story guest buildings with 10 rooms each, a one-story standalone front-desk building and a one-story 1,395-square-foot standalone cafe. The site plan includes a swimming pool with a 4,120-square-foot lounge and pool deck and a 32-stall paved parking area.
The application puts the construction cost between $10 million and $12.5 million. The figure excludes demolition of the remaining structures and pre-construction site clearing. Construction would start within two years of a permit, and the application states the hotel could be operational within approximately five years of approval.
Two Contested-Case Petitions
Pacific Resource Partnership filed a petition seeking to oppose the project in a contested case hearing. The group describes itself as representing the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters and more than 250 contractors, and Executive Director Nathaniel Kinney leads it.
Henry “Hank” Correa Jr., a Hilo real estate agent and developer, filed a second petition. Correa and his wife Kristilee own a neighboring four-unit apartment building at 80 Puueo Street. “The albizia trees on the subject property are large enough that, if one were to fall toward our property, it could destroy our apartment building and potentially cause serious injury or loss of life,” Correa said in his petition.
In a 24 September letter to the Planning Department, Correa wrote that he is concerned the owner may obtain the entitlement with the intention of selling the property. He asked the county to condition approval on professional removal or adequate mitigation of the hazardous albizia trees within six months of approval. He also asked the county to void the permit if that work is not done.
The Environmental Review Dispute
Lawyers for Pacific Resource Partnership are disputing Planning Director Jeff Darrow’s recommended approval and the applicant’s position that no environmental assessment is required. Abigail Holden, Andrew Recktenwald and Christine Terada stated in a legal brief that a biological survey the applicant submitted, prepared by Geometrician Associates, omits much of the information a draft environmental assessment requires.
The brief lists the project’s environmental review triggers. The location sits in the Puueo District, which is listed in the State Inventory of Historic Places. The brief also cites zoning that conflicts with the area’s medium-density urban designation in the General Plan, the potential presence of the endangered Hawaiian hawk, the Hawaiian hoary bat and native plant species, and the need for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit for storm water discharges tied to construction.
“The application therefore effectively puts the cart before the horse, seeking approval for a major construction project that conflicts with the General Plan, within the historic district, without undergoing the environmental scrutiny the Legislature prescribed for such matters,” the brief states.
The Site and the Demolition Permit
County property tax records put the July 2024 purchase price at $3.4 million. The state zones the land medium density-urban, and the county zoning is hotel-resort.
The county issued a permit to BHG Aloha on 29 July approving demolition and removal of the remaining fire-damaged structures and debris, removal of associated infrastructure, removal of hazardous albizia trees and clearing of overgrown non-native vegetation. The permit requires best management practices to protect Waipilopilo Stream, which abuts the property.