Starting from the top and working its way down, demolition is underway at the vacated Hotel Jen building on Roma Street to make way for the new Cross River Rail station.
Cross River Rail Minister Kate Jones said this was the first of three buildings to be demolished on the site, in what is one of Brisbane’s largest ever demolition projects.
“It’s a historic day. We’re officially tearing down the old Hotel Jen,” she said.
“Nothing says progress on a construction site like an 85-metre crane at work on a building completely engulfed in scaffolding.
“Today marks a huge milestone for Cross River Rail. This project is crucial to avoiding a bottleneck in the future.
“It allows us to run more trains more often across the whole of southeast Queensland. We expect that with Cross River Rail in place, an extra 47,000 people will choose rail instead of road by 2036.”
Ms Jones said the 18-floor Hotel Jen was originally opened in August 1986, known then as the Brisbane Travelodge, and was built as part of what was considered at the time the ‘state of the art’ Brisbane Transit Centre at Roma Street.
“Floor by floor starting from the top and working their way down, the demolition crews have started to dismantle Hotel Jen with the East and West Towers of the Brisbane Transit Centre expected to start in March,” Ms Jones said.
Ms Jones said the demolition of the three buildings would make way for the construction of one of the four new underground stations which form part of the Cross River Rail project.
“This top-down demolition is just another step towards Brisbane’s first underground rail network,” she said.
“Construction of the new Roma Street station will create jobs for Queenslanders, and breathe new life into the area which has become underutilised and run down.”
