UH Hilo plans $11.6 million athletics building renovation

UH Hilo is planning an $11.6 million renovation of its athletics building and nearby facilities on the University of Hawaii at Hilo Main Campus at 200 W. Kāwili St. in Hilo. Construction is expected to begin early next year and finish by fall 2027.

Athletics Director Pat Guillen said the building, which was originally constructed in 1979, has not had a major renovation in nearly 50 years. The project is set to replace and upgrade locker rooms, training space, sports medicine space, weight rooms and offices, and it will add a classroom, conference room and meeting room so student-athletes can watch film, study and get academic support in the same facility where they train.

The renovation is intended to serve more than 200 student-athletes and make UH Hilo more attractive to recruits. The building sits alongside existing spaces that include athletics offices, a Hall of Fame room, sports medicine, a weight room and the Student Life Center.

UH Hilo finished a separate athletics facilities renovation in 2022 that added a turf soccer field, revamped softball field, resurfaced tennis courts and a multipurpose building with concessions, bathrooms and team rooms. Athletics repairs and library air-conditioning improvements are among the Facilities Planning and Construction Office's current and future projects, and a December 2025 campus update put about $40 million in improvements across athletics locker renovations, library mechanical upgrades and other work.

In November 2025, Gov. Josh Green released $15 million in CIP funds for facility improvements at UH Hilo under a project called Hilo, Renew, Improve, and Modernize, Hawaii. In 2025-26, 127 student-athletes earned academic honors, 72 earned bachelor’s degrees that school year and 85 made the dean’s list in spring 2025.