A Sydney hotelier has paid $18.1 million for the General Gordon Hotel in Sydney’s inner west with the multi-level pub selling at a massive 69 per cent premium to its June 2016 book value. The General Gordon was offloaded by the ASX-listed Lantern Hotel Group, which is selling its entire pub portfolio ahead of likely delisting. Lantern has been selling into an extremely strong pub market with record prices paid for a host of famous Sydney watering holes in the past 12 months as operators beef up their portfolios. Recent Lantern Sydney pub sales have included the Waterworks Hotel, which sold for $17.3 million, 65 per cent above its book value, and the Five Dock Hotel, which sold to former Wallaby Bill Young for $28.8 million at a 38 per cent premium to its book value. In December, Merivale owner Justin Hemmes paid a record auction price of just over $37 million for the Tennyson Hotel in Mascot in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. Selling agent Andrew Jolliffe from Ray White Hotels said the strong price paid for the General Gordon Hotel was a combination of both the underlying land value and the level of demand for pubs.
…
