Sydney’s InterContinental Hotel on the market

Sydney’s luxury InterContinental Hotel located in Double Bay is about to be sold for about $140 million.

The refurbished five star hotel is best known as the place that Princess Diana and Madonna called home when they were staying down under and where INXS rocker Michael Hutchence took his life.

Now the Singaporean owners are selling it to a Chinese multinational.

Formerly known as the Stamford Plaza and the Ritz Carlton, Singapore’s Royal Brothers put it through a massive renovation when they bought it in 2013.

According to various reports, they had spent something in the order of $100 million renovating the hotel in Double Bay’s Cross Street, trying to bring it to life after it had sat empty for at least seven years.

The hotel re-opened in 2014 but it has been on and off the market since then.

The problem was that it was having trouble competing with the occupancy and room rates that its Sydney CBD luxury counterparts had been recording in the face of city’s room shortage.

The company buying the hotel is Chinese private equity group Shanghai United.

And it’s only one of its acquisitions.

The group is also buying hotels and apartments throughout Sydney.

As an example, Shanghai United last year snapped up a corner city block in the Sydney CBD, at Bathurst and Castlereagh Streets, for $130 million.

Shanghai had lined up a partner and plans to build a 36 level tower there.

It has also entered a partnership with French giant AccorHotels Pacific for a new luxury boutique hotel in the Sydney CBD under the MGallery by Sofitel brand.

The group says it has plenty of money at hand and it’s looking at investing in Sydney real estate.

It says it will also consider high-yielding assets for investment.

Once the sale of the Intercontinental goes through, it will be a new chapter in the story of Sydney’s hotel industry.

by Leon Gettler, May 22^nd 2017