Brisbane’s iconic Normanby Hotel on the market

The Normanby Hotel, one of Brisbane’s most iconic pubs, has been put up for sale and the expectation is that it could fetch $20 million.

Co-owned by Michael Dempsey and Otto Wilhelm since 1999, the Normanby sits high profile Normanby Fiveways in inner-Brisbane’s Red Hill.

Built in 1890, the hotel was added to the Queensland Heritage Register in 1992.

The Normanby features an enormous 3,655 square metre site incorporating the multi-level heritage listed pub and a huge car park. 

It’s the first time the hotel has been sold in 20 years and comes after it was put through a big refurbishment completed just before the 2003 Rugby World Cup.

The Normanby has become the place for many football goers and there are many tales of its infamously rambunctious Sunday afternoons stretching well into the night.

Dempsey is selling the hotel so that he can focus on his core business of property technology through real estate property management software, Console.

CBRE Hotels is managing the sale of the Normanby Hotel freehold and pub operation.

“The hotel boasts huge underlying value with 35 gaming machines on site offering significant gaming upside potential,” CBRE Hotels’ Queensland director Paul Fraser told the Urban Developer.

“On top of this, the prime location of the hotel and the huge expanse of land this asset offers makes it an obvious development play in the future.”

The hotel has always attracted a lot of attention.

The Normanby is also renowned for housing one of Brisbane's most well-known trees, a 100-year-old fig tree.

The tree had to be removed from the site in 2016 after a severe storm knocked it over.

In 2016, Brisbane City Council’s City Planning Committee rejected a proposal by The Normanby Hotel to build a 15-storey development and underground nightclub next to the hotel.

The committee unanimously rejected it on the basis of the height and size of the proposed hotel tower.