Plans to restore Stones Corner icon the Broadway Hotel revealed

It has sat derelict for years but one of Brisbane’s oldest heritage pubs could be transformed into a venue similar to the Breakfast Creek Hotel. SEE THE PLANS

The Broadway Hotel in 2019. It is notoriously rundown and vandalised but is in line for a makeover. Picture: AAP/Richard Walker

The developer behind the resurrection of the old Farmer Joe’s Markets site and Boothville House has revealed plans to bring heritage Stones Corner pub the Broadway Hotel back to its former glory.

The 1889-90 pub has been neglected, covered in graffiti and slowly crumbling after years of neglect and several fires despite multiple Council and State Government orders.

Documents lodged with Brisbane City Council earlier this month said demolition of modern extensions at the back of the site and a WWII bomb shelter would start this week.

The site owner has applied for a time extension on completing the huge project until early 2025 because of inflation and building material/labour shortages caused by the lingering effects of lockdown and the war in Ukraine.

Former owner Malcolm Nyst, brother of celebrity Gold Coast barrister and crime novelist Chris Nyst, sold the distinctive Queen Anne-style building to Broadway Projects Pty Ltd last year for $8.8 million with Council approval to remove the air raid shelter.

The pub has been used by squatters and hit with several fires and the collapse of its distinctive mansard roof. Picture: AAP/Richard Walker

It has engaged Carbone Developments to restore the building under the guidance of heritage architect Ivan McDonald.

Carbone has extensive experience in heritage builds, notably Wilston’s Boothville House which it converted from a rundown for maternity hospital to a grand private residence.

The hotel in January, 2019. Picture: AAP/Richard Walker

Don Carbone said the restoration would be “painstaking’’ with material removed by hand before demolition and rebuilding began.

The goal was to restore the pub rather than knocking it down and creating a venue similar to the Breakfast Creek Hotel.

Mr Carbone said the redevelopment of the nearby The Gabba stadium, a flurry of residential highrises, the transformation of Hanlon Park and other local projects should provide a large customer base for a renewed hotel.

A fire at the Broadway Hotel. Picture: Supplied

The plans have already attracted about 45 public submissions, many opposed to the removal of the air raid shelter and more modern extensions.

“I do not think the air raid shelter should be demolished. It is an important heritage feature, and that should be respected,’’ one resident wrote.

“It is not clear to me, from the documentation provided, why the demolition is necessary or even desirable.

“If they’ve applied for demolition approval in order to further expand the building footprint

during the site’s redevelopment, then we should be able to peruse those plans and judge

accordingly.’’

Another resident wrote: “I am a local architect and I believe that this city needs to value

our heritage buildings more than this.

“The history of this building is significant and the neglect it has recently suffered more recently should not be rewarded with the approval of this application.

“This building needs to be protected as a complete structure not just bit and pieces.’’

Fire fighters after yet another blaze. Picture: Annette Dew

However, Carbone Developments said it had held several positive meetings with the state Department of Environment and Science.

Carbone said the heritage architect was very highly respected and more detailed plans would be lodged in the new year, after consultation with Council, giving locals a better idea of what would be proposed.

One of the structures that would be reinstated was the mansard roof, after the original collapsed several years ago.

In the long-term, an adjacent vacant lot could include a residential tower up to 20 levels, but no development application has been lodged for that.

Developer Majella, headed up by former premier Campbell Newman’s brother-in-law, had previously tried and failed to get approval for a 27-level tower on the hotel site before selling to Dr Nyst.