Cairns Courthouse Hotel on the auction block
Australian Securities Exchange listed Lantern Group is selling the heritage listed Courthouse Hotel in Cairns Business District.
Lantern Group is putting the hotel on the market so that it can put its focus on Sydney.
The Courthouse Hotel is the last Queensland asset that Lantern has left on its books. The sale comes after the successful divestment earlier this year of the GPO Hotel in Fortitude Valley for $5.25 million.
Bought for $8.1 million in 2006, the hotel will marketed via a national expressions of interest campaign ending July 13.
The plan is to sell it as a going concern, including the commercial hotel licence and 35 gaming-machine authorities.
Construction of the courthouse cost £13,500 when it was completed in 1921. It was renovated into a hotel in 1998.
Located in the CBD, the hotel is close to the Esplanade and waterfront, the Reef Hotel Casino and many accommodation hotels and various backpacker operations.
CBRE Hotels Queensland senior manager Glenn Price said price expectations were still to be determined.
But he expected the hotel will attract a lot of buyer interest.
“We are expecting strong interest from private pub groups, corporate groups and private publicans,” Price told the Cairns Post.
“The chance to purchase the hotel provides a fantastic opportunity to acquire a premier pub offering with steady trade and potential upside in what is currently one of the key economic and tourist regions in Queensland.
“There haven’t been too many quality hotels in large regional centres available outside the southeast region of Queensland in recent times.”
CBRE Hotels’ national manager Daniel Dragicevich concurred.
“Not only is it aesthetically appealing but it has had such a strong history in the Cairns community and is likely to attract a wide range of potential buyers, including those outside of the hotel sector looking to purchase a trophy asset,” Dragicevich told the Cairns Post.
by Leon Gettler, June 16th 2016
