Private investors have purchased the Trawool Valley Resort in the regional Victorian town of Trawool for $1.9 million, with plans to refurbish the hotel and conference centre. The property is located one hour north of the Melbourne CBD at 8100–8150 Goulburn Valley Highway and was previously being considered for a drug rehabilitation centre before the community intervened. Gross Waddell Real Estate’s Alex Ham and First National Westwood’s Bob Westwood sold the a three-level resort complex with vacant possession.
December 21, 2018
Publican Peter Braithwaite has acquired the 820-square-metre freehold Red Lion Hotel at 215 Beaudesert Road, Moorooka, in Brisbane’s south, for $6 million. The pub is nine kilometres from the Brisbane CBD and has a large public bar, bistro and 28 gaming machine entitlements. HTL Property’s Glenn Price and JLL’s Tom Gleeson sold the property.
December 19, 2018
One of Sydney’s most iconic establishments, the Woolbrokers Arms Hotel in Pyrmont, has found a buyer, selling for around the listed price of $9.6 million. The result is a big success for the vendors, who paid $9 million for the property in November 2017, an increase of $600,000 without completing any major work. Located at 22 Allen St, it is currently ran as a budget hotel and has 27 rooms with an annual turnover of $1.2 million in 2017. The property received 120 inquiries according to selling agent Ray Larkin of Manenti Quinlan and Associates, who brokered the deal with Miron Solomons of Colliers International. The property initially went to auction where it passed in under a vendor’s bid of $9.4 million, before selling after auction to a Chinese investor.
December 14, 2018
Hotelier brothers Mitchell and Ashton Waugh are understood to have struck a deal to sell one of Sydney’s landmark pubs, the Woollahra Hotel in the eastern suburbs back to previous owners the Ryan family. Insiders put the value of the deal at about $50 million. It comes just three years after the Waugh brothers’ Public House Management Group acquired the hotel from the Ryan family for a reported $30 million in October 2015. The art deco-style pub on the corner of Moncur and Queen streets, in one of Sydney’s trendiest suburbs, is home to the well-known Bistro Moncur restaurant and is a popular spot for Sydney A-listers, including recently ousted prime minister Malcolm Turnbull. The Woollahra Hotel was the jewel in the crown of the Public House portfolio, which operates a number of well-known venues in Sydney, including the Toxteth Hotel in Glebe, the Royal Hotel Paddington and the Buena Hotel in Mosman. However, the brothers have been selling venues of late. In July they sold Paddington’s Four in Hand for $7 million to John Azar’s Good Beer Company. Mitchell Waugh was contacted for comment but had not responded by the time of publication. The Ryan family, led by publican John Ryan, also did not respond to a request for comment. The Ryan family are among Sydney’s most successful publicans, operating seven high-profile venues including the Republic Hotel, the Ship Inn, the Paragon Hotel and Ryan’s Bar at the foot of Australia Square. When he sold the Woollahra Hotel to the Waughs in 2015, Mr Ryan revealed he was a reluctant vendor. “We purchased the Woollahra Hotel with the view to owning it in our family for generations, given its obvious prominence as both a piece of real estate and an incredible cash flow business,” he said at the time. “I was initially dismissive, but he [pub broker Andrew Jolliffe] was persistent and ultimately delivered upon a price at which I said we would sell.”
December 12, 2018
The Otago University Students’ Association has bought one of the last remaining bars near the Dunedin campus. OUSA events manager Jason Schroeder said the Association wanted to address the decline in student bars, while also insuring students had a safe place to drink. Mr Schroeder said Starters, in Frederick St, provided a safe environment for students, in contrast to flat parties which were the ”wild west of drinking”.
December 11, 2018
There have been ghostly appearances, sub-zero temperatures and “a lot of fun with the locals”. But after 19 years of owning the Vulcan Hotel, owners Jude and Mike Kavanagh are calling it a day, putting the St Bathans hotel up for sale. Mrs Kavanagh said they were looking forward to retirement after a lifetime of working in the hospitality industry, but when the hotel did sell they would “miss it like hell”. “We’ve had a lot of fun with the locals over the years and they’re the first ones to come in and give you a hand if anything goes wrong … You meet lovely people here every single day.” Mrs Kavanagh said the hotel’s haunted history continued to attract visitors and create new tales. Legend has it the ghost is the “Rose of St Bathans”, a young woman who died in one of the rooms of the hotel more than 100 years ago. “I’m not a great believer in ghosts, but I’ve seen shadows, and you never feel as if you’re on your own,” Mrs Kavanagh said. “A lot of guests ask to be put in her room, and there are lots of reports of people being gently pressed in their bed, or hearing chains drag along the floor. But she’s a nice ghost, she’s not nasty.” The Kavanaghs started leasing the St Bathans hotel 19 years ago and bought the freehold property a decade later.
December 10, 2018
Sydney funds manager Mandala Asset Solutions has snapped up the Knotts Crossing Resort in Katherine, Northern Territory, paying $7.61 million in an off-market deal. “Mandala is very experienced in identifying prime accommodation-driven assets in regional Australia, and Knotts Crossing ticked all the boxes for earnings and growth outlook,” said Resortbrokers executive Trudy Crooks, who negotiated the deal. “Mandala’s activity is evidence of this trend, with plans for a new fund, its biggest portfolio yet, and all by investing primarily in accommodation-driven assets across regional Australia,” said Ms Crooks. The resort sold for the asking price of $7.61m before she took it to market. The 3ha Knotts Crossing Resort, located near Katherine Gorge, includes 35 powered caravan sites with private ensuite amenities, 36 cabins with ensuites, 86 motel rooms, the Savannah Bar and Restaurant plus a casual poolside alfresco bistro. It was offered to the market by a privately owned Queensland-based investment syndicate that had owned it for about 15 years. The resort had been operated by the current lessee for 10 years and, with 13 years remaining on the lease, it was a very secure and profitable long-term freehold investment, she said, adding that the high-earning resort returned a rare 11.5 per cent per annum. Ms Crooks said demand for high quality accommodation assets in regional Australia was gaining momentum. Resortbrokers’ NT and South Australian broker Kelli Crouch also negotiated the deal.
December 6, 2018
The five-star Zatori Lodge at the top of the South Island in Collingwood sports a helicopter landing space, wood-fired sauna and two-person bathtub overlooking the Ruataniwha Inlet. Zatori owner Tracey Walker’s expectations of sale offers of “something over $2.5 million” are a little more modest than the asking price of the nearby $25m Westhaven Lodge getaway overlooking Whanganui inlet, another of several southern lodges currently on the market. Zatori’s ring-side view overlooks the Aorere River as it feeds into Golden Bay’s Ruataniwha Inlet, about 5 kilometres from Collingwood. “It has a lot of spirit attached to it. It’s seen many births death and marriages. I think would have great potential as a yoga and wellness centre,” Walker said. Walker is a long time resident of Golden Bay who, as a marriage celebrant, has conducted many services joining couples there. She is also a Bayleys real estate agent who is conducting the sale herself. When Zatori was a resthome for a period, one of Walker’s elderly relations passed away there. It’s also been the cradle of new life because it was a former maternity hospital before being converted into a five-star lodge after she bought it in 2013. It features two-winged accommodation with lounge and foodservice space in the middle hub of the premises. In Zatori’s upmarket wing, nightly rack rates range seasonally from $229 to $399. In the budget wing, nightly rack rates range from $60 in a bunk-bed configured room, through to $210 for a family unit sleeping up to four people. The lodge has total sleeping capacity for 30 guests.
