The National Park Service is looking for a business to enter the Maurice Bathhouse at Hot Springs National Park/NPS

As units of the National Park System grapple with the costs of maintaining historic structures, more and more park managers are looking to lease buildings, with a requirement that the tenants maintain them.

That's the case at Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas, where officials are looking for a business to occupy the Maurice Bathhouse building.

The Maurice Bathhouse, which originally opened in 1912, is a three-story structure with a basement and exterior dimensions of 100 feet by 100 feet. It totals 22,919 square feet of space with 4,940 square feet in the basement, 8,179 square feet on the first floor, 4,900 square feet on the second floor, and 4,900 square feet on the third floor. The exterior architecture is an eclectic mix of Spanish and Italian Renaissance Revival styles. Faced with stucco and inset colored tiles, it has good proportions, simplicity of design, and crisp detailing. The entry is a sun parlor or porch with five arched windows, set in antis between two pavilions. The five-bay motif is used again on the third floor in the central block. The Maurice Bathhouse closed in 1974.

The building is more than 100 years old and currently vacant. The Park Service has completed extensive stabilization and rehabilitation work on the building, but more is needed.

"Lessees will be required to complete substantial additional rehabilitation work in order to make the building suitable for its specific intended use," the park's request for proposals said. "Applicants should note that the NPS considers that the rehabilitation cost of the building is likely to exceed $1 million."

Actually proposing how you would run a business out of the bathhouse could take some time and great vision.

"The proposal should explain how the use(s) are compatible with the preservation, protection and visitor enjoyment of the park. It should include, if applicable, facts, information, and data that demonstrate that a viable market demand exists for proposed commercial uses," the RFP points out. "The preservation and rehabilitation plan is to specify how the applicant intends to carry out the proposal and shall address the preservation of the interior and exterior of the building to be leased. The plan shall comprehensively describe the applicant’s proposed rehabilitation work and outline a detailed schedule for program development, rehabilitation, completion, and opening for operation.

"The appropriate preliminary plans and drawings should be included in the plan. Applicants should carefully review the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties in this regard."

And then, of course, there's the documentation that you have the financial wherewithal to swing the deal, as well as your qualifications for overseeing the needed renovations and running the business.

Congress established Hot Springs Reservation in 1832 to protect the naturally flowing thermal springs on the southwestern slope of Hot Springs Mountain. Hot Springs Reservation together with the City of Hot Springs developed into a well-known resort that attracted and hosted health seekers from around the world. The Reservation was renamed Hot Springs National Park in 1921. Today, the 5,500-acre national park continues to protect the 47 hot springs and the architecturally unique bathhouses that were built to offer the thermal water for bathing and relaxation.

Site visits are available upon request, but you better hurry. The deadline for questions regarding the bathhouse is August 22, and proposals are to be delivered to the National Park Service's Midwest Regional Office in Omaha, Nebraska, by October 31.