Brisbane gaol could become backpackers
Brisbane’s 119-year-old Boggo Road Gaol at Annerley could become a boutique hotel or backpackers in plans for a major redevelopment of the site.
The $295 million Boggo Road Village is being developed by Leighton Properties over three years. A master plan is expected to be unveiled early next month by Leighton Properties with Cox Rayner as supervising architects.
Mooted uses for the site include a TAFE campus, a training centre, conference centre, boutique hotel or backpackers hostel. A spokesman for Leighton Properties said a commercial use of the site was still part of the potential for the prison.
But Queensland’s National Trust executive officer Stewart Armstrong said, “We would be concerned about boutique accommodation in there because boutique accommodation expects a high level of servicing. And I don’t think that those cell blocks could cope with that.”
