Intercontinental Hotel Double Bay on the market
There’s much focus now on who is going to buy the Intercontinental Hotel Double Bay located Sydney’s wealthy eastern suburbs.
Market talk now is now focusing on all sorts of groups expressing interest in acquiring the prestigious luxury Double Bay hotel.
Names include the Eleanor Investors Group that is associated with former Macquarie banker Bill Moss and millionaire mogul hotel investors Greg Karedis and Arthur Laundy, who control the Sheraton Noosa and Crowne Plaza Terrigal and Aligned Funds Management.
It’s a significant deal if and when it goes ahead because it will be the city’s first major hotel deal since the Westin Sydney sold for $445 million to Singapore and Hong Kong interests in 2015.
Already, the site has been primed with Singapore’s Royal Group investing about $100 million worth of acquisition and renovation costs into its 140-room Intercontinental Hotel in Cross Street.
The Intercontinental opened for business in 2014.
The Royal Group has been trying to sell the hotel now for some time. It started offering it to the market in late 2015.
Jones Lang LaSalle executive vice-president Peter Harper said demand for Sydney hotel investment assets were the strongest he had seen for some time.
“Sydney is now viewed as a global city, the trading outlook is overwhelmingly positive over the medium term,” Mr Harper told The Australian.
It’s also a prime time for making the sale.
Industry researcher STR has put out figures this week showing that the Sydney hotel is booming with demand up more than 7 per cent year on year.
According to STR, average occupancy has grown nearly 3 per cent to more than 91 per cent and occupancy levels the highest for a March quarter since 1996.
At the same time, room rates jumped almost 6 per cent in the March quarter to $243 a night.
And revenue per available room is up nearly 8 per cent to $221.55 a night.
by Leon Gettler, April 12th 2017
