One of Sydney’s most popular city pubs, The Republic Hotel opposite the Australian Stock Exchange, has been sold off market for about $35 million. The four-level pub on the corner of Pitt and Bridge streets was acquired by an Asian-based international property fund in a sale and leaseback deal with the Ryan family who operate a number of top venues including Ryan’s Bar at Australia Square and the Orient Hotel at The Rocks. The hotel, which has been a licensed venue since 1865, sits on a 228 square metre site spanning three streets. It recently underwent a multimillion-dollar renovation, including the introduction of a popular rooftop bar. It last traded for $5.33 million in 1999. The sale follows a record run of Sydney and east coast pub transactions that has seen values surge and yields tighten by as much as 100 basis points. “The deal, concluded this week, sees the well-known hotelier Patrick Ryan enter into an agreement to lease back the business operation of the asset after 17 years of ownership,” said selling agent Andrew Jolliffe from Ray White Hotels. Mr Jolliffe, who earlier this month sold the Vic on the Park in Marrickville in the city’s inner west to Merivale boss Justin Hemmes for more than $22 million, would not be drawn on price paid for hotel or the identity of the purchaser. But said he believed sophisticated interest in AAA grade property in Australia’s gateway cities remained robust. “We have averaged an exit yield of approximately 8 per cent for our clients when considering our last 20 transactions this year, and accordingly restate our view that the considered argument for further yield compression remains likely,” Mr Jolliffe said.
October 9, 2017
The Royal Hotel in Melbourne’s Sunbury, leased to Woolworths-backed operator ALH Group, is to be offloaded by a private NSW investor, hot on the heels of another ALH-operated pub, the Berwick Inn, hitting the market. The Royal, on Melbourne’s northern outskirts, is expected to snare about $8 million, while the two-storey Berwick Inn in the eastern suburbs is likely to trade for about $25 million. JLL’s Mathew George, the Royal’s selling agent, said few ALH-leased pub in the sub-$10 million bracket had been offered in Melbourne over the past decade. “Comparable ALH and Coles-tenanted investment hotels in prime locations such as this have been keenly sought by purchasers in recent years, but very rarely do they hit the open market,” he said. The Royal returns $367,000 in net rent from the pub’s business and 31 gaming machines. The Berwick Inn, marketed by CBRE, is the first major asset to be sold by Australia’s largest listed freehold pub owner, ALE Property Group, in seven years.
September 25, 2017
The hotly-contested pub market has a new sale on the go – the Terrey Hills Tavern, with price expectations of more than $40 million. The landmark Northern Beaches hotel has been placed on the market by Feros Group, led by Sydney publicans Nick and Chris Feros, who recently opened the Prince Hotel in Kirrawee and count the Rocksia and Taren Point hotels in their pub portfolio. The group also is scheduled to open the newly-developed Highfields hotel in Caringbah before Christmas and has signalled intentions to redeploy capital to this new venture as the rationale behind sale plans for the Terrey Hills Tavern. The sale has been timed to capitalise on the bullish Sydney freehold pub market, with about $650 million in top-tier pubs changing hands over the past 18 months in 26 separate transactions. CBRE Hotels’ Daniel Dragicevich and Sam Handy have been appointed to sell the tavern, which follows the recent record divestment of the Beach Hotel in Byron Bay for $70 million. It was bought by the Melbourne-based Impact Investment Group, which has more than $730 million in existing assets and under construction and aims to shift capital towards investments that generate social and environmental value.
September 22, 2017
A thriving tourism sector on Magnetic Island should drive interest for two key development sites at Nelly Bay, according to Ray White Commercial Townsville. The firm is marketing the Magnetic Island Shopping Centre in Sooning St which has development potential for an expanded supermarket and the addition of service station, marine outlets, food stores and tavern, while a separate vacant waterfront site at Nelly Bay Harbour also has been earmarked for a tavern and mixed uses. Ray White Commercial principal Graeme Russell said the single-level shopping centre was anchored by FoodWorks with five tenancies, a detached restaurant and dwelling providing net income of $231,962 per annum. He said about 4000sq m of the 9029sq m site was vacant land with further development potential. “With tourism picking up dramatically on the island this is a great opportunity,” Mr Russell said. “At a price of around $3 million, you are looking at not just a yield of about 8 per cent on existing income but the upside with the future development opportunity.” Mr Russell said it was interesting ferry operator SeaLink was predicting passenger movements to increase to a million a year with development of its new Townsville ferry terminal expected to be operational in 2020. He said the numbers of visitors to the island already appeared to have picked up dramatically with a notable increase in backpackers and tourists with suitcases. The Nelly Bay Harbour site is a 6348sq m holding with 70m of harbour frontage.
September 22, 2017
JLL is reportedly marketing the Mercure & Ibis Styles Grosvenor Hotel on North Terrace in Adelaide. The property is being offered for sale by way of an Expression of Interest campaign closing at 1 pm (AEST) on Wednesday, Oct. 27.
September 20, 2017
After 14 years in eco-tourism, the co-owners of Eungella’s Broken River Mountain Resort have decided to sell.
September 19, 2017
The Byron Bay Beach Hotel, developed by John Cornell, known as “Strop” in his television days on the Paul Hogan show, has sold for $70 million to Melbourne-based investors. Mr Cornell sold the site for $44 million in 2007 to businessman Max Trigg who has spent the past decade renovating the site. He has now sold to the Liberman-family backed Impact Investment Group. An IIG spokesperson said the group saw strong potential to regenerate the “heart and soul” of Byron Bay with a strategy focused on achieving bold green and social impact initiatives over a three to four years period. “We’re looking forward to settling this transaction in six months’ time. It’s a great hotel, and we’ve already made a lot of progress planning our environmental upgrades and how we’ll work with the operator and locals to deliver real positive impacts for the Byron Bay community,” they said.
September 18, 2017
The Murphy family have sold the Belmore Hotel in Maitland in the NSW Lower Hunter Valley to local businessman for $9 million. The on-market campaign was executed by Blake Edwards, Andrew Jolliffe and Xavier Plunkett of Ray White Hotels Australia. The family have owned the large gaming and bistro pub since 2003, but have shifted their investment focus to other developments. The sale follows publican Arthur Laundy selling another regional NSW pub recently, The Bateau Bay Hotel for $13 million to a local group.
