{"id":635760,"date":"2026-04-28T07:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T07:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/635760\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T07:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T07:22:10","slug":"rockhamptons-plaza-hotel-set-to-go-under-the-hammer-but-no-inspections-allowed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/635760\/","title":{"rendered":"Rockhampton’s Plaza Hotel set to go under the hammer, but no inspections allowed"},"content":{"rendered":"

After more than a decade of decay, multiple court orders and a handful of failed revival attempts, Rockhampton’s Plaza Hotel is set to go under the hammer.<\/p>\n

The seven-storey, 66-room on the city’s highway strip closed in 2014.<\/p>\n

In 2025 a court ordered the sale of the property<\/a>, which has been owned by Chang Holdings since 1996.<\/p>\n

It will go to auction on May 21.<\/p>\n

Lloyds Auctions chief operations officer Lee Hames said the property was in such a poor state that buyers would not be allowed to inspect it.<\/p>\n

“It was a huge shock,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I had seen photos, but photos didn’t do it justice of its current state.<\/p>\n

“We just simply refuse to let anybody on the site.”<\/p>\n

\"Temporary<\/p>\n

The hotel has been fenced off due to health and safety risks. (ABC Capricornia: Vanessa Jarrett)<\/p>\n

Last year Rockhampton Regional Council issued a public health order for the clean-up of the site, where waste including kitchen goods, needles and faeces had built up, along with rodent populations.<\/p>\n

Temporary fencing to prevent public access was installed in accordance with the order.<\/p>\n

With no response from Chang Holdings director James Chang, the council carried out the work and passed the costs on to the owner.<\/p>\n

Mr Hames said there had been interest in the property, but he expected the buyer to demolish the building.<\/p>\n

“We launched it a few days ago and we’ve had enormous inquiry locally and interstate from developers and business owners, who all see a great opportunity in acquiring such a prominent site in Rockhampton,” he said.<\/p>\n

“There’s potential there in some of the structure to be able to refurbish the site, but it won’t surprise us if it’s a full knock-over.”<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The hotel was built in 1977. (Supplied: Lloyds Auctions)<\/p>\n

Sale welcomed by locals<\/p>\n

Capricornia Chamber of Commerce president Jason Foss said news of the action was pleasing because the city needed more accommodation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“It’s been an eyesore for some time,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Foss said he hoped the new owner would put “decent-sized accommodation” on the site.<\/p>\n

“If it turns into something else, or if it’s only a handful of rooms, that would be somewhat disappointing because we desperately need the accommodation,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It would be great to see something off similar size put on that site.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The hotel has been closed since 2014. (Supplied: Lloyds Auctions)<\/p>\n

In 2021 a court order was issued over unpaid rates totalling $207,008.05.<\/p>\n

The property was among a list of 30 issued with final notices for overdue rates and charges this month.<\/p>\n

Mr Hames said he had been in discussion with the council, which would receive a share of the proceeds of the sale via a trust.<\/p>\n

He said it was not clear how much the property would sell for, but the bidding would begin at $1.<\/p>\n

“We’re hoping that the next custodian of the building honours a bit of the history and the importance and does something really magnificent with it,” Mr Hames said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After more than a decade of decay, multiple court orders and a handful of failed revival attempts, Rockhampton’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,307887,307888,307885,307886,138225,138223,307889],"class_list":["post-635760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-chang-holdings","tag-james-chang","tag-lee-hames","tag-lloyds-auctions","tag-rockhampton-plaza-hotel","tag-rockhampton-regional-council","tag-what-happened-to-the-plaza-hotel-rockhampton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}