PUB WITH NO CHEER

Council pours millions into heritage rescue at Courthouse Hotel

THE tap has run dry at the former Courthouse Hotel in Cairns with refurbishment costs blowing out by millions of dollars.

Cairns Regional Council bought the heritage-listed building in 2016 with the dream of transforming it into part of a $40 million Cairns Gallery Precinct.

The Abbott St property has been a dead space in the CBD ever since and funding for its artistic redevelopment is nowhere in sight.

The repair bill has soared to $6.2 million, about $2m more than estimated, as officers discovered cheaply repaired heritage work and having to remediate lead paint used throughout and asbestos. Infrastructure damage also has been costly.

“The heritage values of that building have been grossly damaged,” Mayor Bob Manning said. He said the building was still a good buy.

THE old Courthouse Hotel’s dream transformation into the jewel of a Cairns gallery precinct is floundering with its refurbishment bill running millions of dollars into the red.

Cairns Regional Council “strategically acquired” the site for $5.75 million in 2016.

It vastly underestimated the work needed to make it usable as a stand-alone building – let alone part of an unfunded $40 million gallery precinct.

Mayor Bob Manning has revealed the initial $4.2 million refurbishment had blown out by $2 million, meaning renovations would wind up costing more than the purchase price.

He said it was still a good buy – but the heritage-listed building’s degradation only became apparent after council officers dug around inside.

“The heritage values of that building have been grossly damaged,” he said.

“Parts of the furnishings, and the (witness box) have been replaced with cheaply built rubbish. How the Department of Heritage could ever let that happen is hard to fathom.”

Cr Manning said the council went into the sale on the presumption the heritage values had been maintained.

They found lead paint had been used throughout along with huge amounts of asbestos, on top of infrastructure damage requiring urgent repair.

“There’s a lot of members of the legal fraternity, and especially those like Justice Stanley Jones and others who sit at the top of the tree, who are pretty upset about the way that building’s been treated,” Cr Manning said.

Division 5 councillor Richie Bates said the building should have been allowed to continue to operate as a pub until funding was available for the refurbishment and full gallery precinct redevelopment.

“While I am supportive of the overall concept, it is worth remembering council bought the site without a business plan and knowing all the facts about the heritage condition,” he said.

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