Show-cause notice issued to owner of fire-ravaged Broadway Hotel

In September, the derelict Woolloongabba pub on Logan Road was gutted by a suspicious fire, further destroying the building's fragile infrastructure.

The fire, eight years after another blaze that all but destroyed the heritage-listed hotel's internal structures and forced its permanent closure, sparked calls to preserve the gothic building.

A Queensland Police spokeswoman said on Monday that investigations into the September fire were continuing.

Several days after the fire, Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch issued a stop order to prevent the building from being demolished, but the stabilisation of the infrastructure required an enforcement notice to be issued by the council.

In October, the minister wrote to Brisbane City Council urging it to issue an enforcement notice against the owner of the hotel, Malcolm Nyst.

Dr Nyst, who owns multiple commercial properties throughout Brisbane including the Mill pub in Fortitude Valley, was contacted for comment.

"As minister, I issued a pre-emptive stop order to prevent the potential demolition of the Broadway Hotel," Ms Enoch said.

"BCC only acted after pressure from the Palaszczuk government to issue an enforcement notice to address public safety around the building.

"Without further enforcement action by council, the Broadway Hotel is at risk, particularly as the storm season approaches."

The Department of Environment and Science commissioned an engineer's report on the hotel's structural integrity after the September fire, providing a copy to Dr Nyst.

The report found the parapet walls on the north and east elevations, and the chimneys, were unstable.

However, the overall condition of the brickwork was "reasonable" and the mortar "sound".

The engineer commissioned by the department recommended temporary works to prop up the unsound areas, which formed the basis of the Minister's urging for the council to take enforcement action.

Brisbane City Council community services chairman Peter Matic said the council was concerned the hotel's heritage was not being "appropriately preserved" after the fire.

“Council is committed to protecting our city’s heritage, which is why we have been actively working to ensure public safety of the Broadway Hotel,” Cr Matic said.

“A number of enforcement notices have been issued to the property owner, as well as a show-cause notice on November 12, 2018 due to the Broadway Hotel’s dilapidated condition.

“Council is eager to see the Broadway Hotel restored to its former glory and it is crucial the state government exercise their powers under the Heritage Act to ensure it does not fall into further disrepair.”

Dr Nyst has until Friday, December 14, to respond to the council's show-cause notice.

A development application was submitted to the council on March 13, 2017, proposing a 27-storey residential tower, but in July 2018 the plans were withdrawn with the developer citing it would turn to the council for help to create a development the council would support.

There is no suggestion the developer or Dr Nyst were responsible for the September fire at the Broadway Hotel.

The state of the hotel prompted concern from the Australian Institute of Architects Queensland branch, who wrote to lord mayor Graham Quirk on November 5 urging greater focus on the old building.

"The Broadway Hotel is a significant architectural building and is rightly considered a heritage place," chapter president Paul Trotter wrote.

"The Institute have been concerned about the increasing deterioration and ongoing lack of maintenance for several years.

"The damage caused by this recent fire, has placed the future of this building at risk – a risk that will increase each day if urgent stabilisation works are not carried out."

National Trust Queensland also relaunched its "Love me, save me" campaign asking concerned members to write to the lord mayor about the Broadway Hotel's plight.

Describing the hotel as one of Brisbane's "heritage landmarks", the Trust said it did not want to see the hotel "fall like Cloudland and the Bellevue Hotel before it".

The Trust warned that while there was no application for demolition to the hotel, there was a "risk of demolition by neglect".