Former site of Evening Star Motel at Frank St in Labrador under contract to mystery new buyer
The site of what was once described as the “worst motel in Queensland” has hit the market. A new future could be in store for the maligned one-time murder scene. DETAILS >>>
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THE site of what was once described as the “worst motel in Queensland” has hit the market. Labrador’s Evening Star Motel was demolished in 2018 after it became a dilapidated mess of fire and crime.
But now the maligned one-time murder scene at 126 Frank St could be set for a rebirth, with the 794 sqm block of land under contract to a mystery new buyer.
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The site “in the flourishing Broadwater Precinct” now bears no trace of the grey-blue sketchy weatherboard motel, and is a blank canvas for whatever comes next.
Agent Anna Liu of RAAS Property Group said the land was initially scheduled to go to auction, but had instead gone to private negotiation with more than 10 inquiries in two weeks.
Ms Liu could not be specific on the price but said the land, which has approved plans for a new four-storey Evening Star Motel, was likely to settle above $1.7 million.
The plans for a new Evening Star were submitted by a company called BW Evening Star, which purchased the motel for $950,000 in 2014.
Ms Liu said the Chinese owners were selling up because they were moving to Brisbane and were too busy to build a motel.
She said the site could be far more densely developed than what was outlined in the approved plans, so had been an attractive prospect for the buyers.
While the bulldozers have scrubbed the site clean, the old motel lives on in the generally miserable online reviews of the holiday experience offered by the notorious doss house.
“Abandon hope. If you ever find yourself staying at The Evening Star Motel, then you will know for sure that God no longer loves you,” said one critique.
“I wouldn’t recommend this place to my worst enemy,” says one survivor.
“Definitely do not take children or elderly to this place,” wrote another.
“I was expecting a fire. Do not stay.”
In 2004, a drug dealer was stabbed to death at the motel, which stopped taking paying guests in 2017.
Squatters moved in, tearing the televisions from the walls, lighting fires inside and generally trashing what was left of the sky-blue buildings.
It was emergency accommodation by local homeless services – but that too had be stopped after one too many DIY fireplaces.
But before it became the grimy backdrop for the first episode of reality television crime series Gold Coast Cops, The Evening Star Motel was called The Belvedere and was one of scores of funky 1960s motels that sprung up on the Gold Coast Highway between Labrador and Coolangatta.
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