Council slammed as vacant building left to rack and ruin

ALMA Park Zoo was going to move in but that was eight years ago. Now ratepayers are angry they are forking out millions to pay for around-the-clock security on this iconic vacant building on the M1.

LOGAN CITY Council has been accused of wasting thousands of ratepayer dollars for leaving vacant a $2 million, two-storey brick building for more than eight years.

Logan Ratepayers’ Association president Rod Shaw said the council had been financially negligent by allowing the former Antiques Market, on the M1, to fall into rack and ruin, even when there were financially viable offers to turn the site into a tourist attraction.

A pizza oven has stood idle for eight years while a squabble over the site continues.

Mr Shaw said the council-owned building had been empty since 2008 after plans for a housing expo failed followed by a court dispute when plans to make it the new home to Alma Park Zoo also fell through.

A council spokesman said it remained interested in pursuing development options on the site but would not comment on the court case with the zoo owners.

The building was once designed for a country-style bakery.

Ratepayer angst flared after Logan-based entertainment and tourism venture Evilcorp, submitted two tenders to council — the first in 2010 and the second in 2016, to lease the site and use it as a haunted house tourist attraction. It has also applied twice to the leaseholder for leases first in 2008 and in 2015.

“Council denied them access as the doomed Alma Park Zoo, which was given incentives to locate in Logan, and was touted as the big tourist development and we all know what happened to that grandiose scheme,” Mr Shaw said.

Jaye and Kate Rose at the vacant council-owned building at Loganholme. They want to turn it into a haunted house tourist attraction. (AAP Image/Jono Searle).

“Prior to that, we had the grand plan for setting up an ‘Affordable Housing Expo’ on the site. The Expo never materialised.

“Council has refused to reveal its plans for this building despite ratepayers having paid for around-the-clock security. A rough estimate would place such a cost in the millions of dollars, which is why we will be pursuing this issue with the state government.”

A western frontier style saloon bar was one of the fun rooms inside the building, which has stood vacant for eight years.

Last week, Evilcorp director Jaye Rose reignited her interest in setting up a haunted house similar to Fright Night as a family entertainment venue which would also include other Logan entertainment companies providing laser tag, pizza and segway rides.

Inside the vacant building was once palatial.

Her idea was first made public in 2015 on the popular TV show Shark Tank and although a hit with judges, she failed to secure funding because she had no lease on the building.

“We could have the building cleaned and up and running as a major tourist attraction in three months.”

Ms Rose said her two tender documents were comprehensive and included environmental studies, traffic impact reports, financial statements and designs.

A large sweeping staircase inside the building would be ideal for a haunted house setting, says Jaye Rose.

Her last submission was in March 2016 after the council put the lease out to tender. “But a month later, following the 2016 local government election, the council notified me that the tendering process had been cancelled and the property was no longer on the market for rent,” she said.

For the past three years, Ms Rose has operated her interactive haunted attraction at Thunderbird Park, Mount Tamborine and Beenleigh Historic Village.