Central Hotel, 385 Lakes Creek Rd, Koongal for sale for unpaid rates

After the property was passed in at the public auction after it didn’t meet the reserve price, it is now officially on the market. See how much is owed.

The Central Hotel in Koongal has been listed for sale by Rockhampton Regional Council in an effort to recoup unpaid rates.

The dilapidated Central Hotel property in Rockhampton has officially hit the market as council looks to recoup unpaid rates.

The property at 385 Lakes Creek Road, Koongal, was taken to a public auction by Rockhampton Regional Council on June 21.

A notice printed at the auction stated $7963.40 is owed for half-yearly rates.

Vandals and squatters have rifled through the abandoned Central Hotel at 385 Lakes Creek Road, Koongal.

Councils may take properties to auction if rates and charges are unpaid for three or more years for land zoned residential and one year for commercial.

Bids for the hotel building started at $50,000 and reached $140,000, but this failed to meet the reserve so it was ultimately passed in.

Under the Local Government Act, if the reserve price for the land is not reached at the auction, the local government may enter into negotiations with any bidder who attended the auction to sell the land by agreement, however the price must not be less than the reserve.

This was unsuccessful and under the next steps of the Act, the council can continue to offer the land for sale by another auction or sale by negotiation.

A Sales Notice was published online by council on August 23.

The terms state a deposit of 10 per cent of the total purchase price must be paid on signing of the contract and the seller (council) “gives no warranty as to current occupation of the state of the property in any respect”.

According to a valuation in June 2022 accessed through property data, the land is valued at $197,500.

The last time the property sold was in 2018 for $137,500, and in 2016 for $200,000.

The mess inside the former Central Hotel.

The corner property sits on two titles on a 1602 sqm allotment.

The two-storey hotel has 10 boarding rooms upstairs and is quite dilapidated and vandalised inside.

Smashed glass has been strewn throughout the bars and holes in walls, piles and piles of rubbish and obvious signs of mess from squatters.

It was last open in 2016 and has been on the site since the 1940s, originally with a verandas wrapping around the front.

Originally published as Central Hotel, 385 Lakes Creek Rd, Koongal for sale for unpaid rates