WHEN the office block at the northern end of Abell Point Marina was demolished last month, locals who were at its construction more than 20 years ago took a trip down memory lane.

Suzette Pelt, the former owner of Queensland Yacht Charters (QYC) and Joe Hawkes, whose family established the neighbouring Hawkes Boat Yard in the early 1960's, paid a visit to the site to reflect on how it had changed.

Ms Pelt said QYC was the first yacht charter company in the marina having previously operated off the old jetty. She said the company moved from an old donga into the new building in 1992.

Mr Hawkes said he still remembered the days when his mother Del took pot-shots with her shotgun at the construction workers on the site.

"They were actually planning on building a restaurant nine feet from our house [and] there was going to be a 406-room hotel and a big swimming pool - that was one bright idea," he said.

"We were trying to operate and there were 300 trucks a day doing return trips - it was that dusty, trying to paint boats. It was hard."

Ms Pelt said happily "nobody got shot, it did get built and the Hawkes' got their boat yard going again". But she also said the building was "never going to be permanent".

"It lasted longer than we thought," she said.

Ms Pelt said it was fabulous that parkland would now replace the building.

"I'm very pleased - it really is great to see the marina moving ahead with someone who's invested in it and made a real commitment to the place," she said.