Big hotel sales
The hotel real estate market is hotting up again with the Redcape Hotel Group selling the the Belrose Hotel in Sydney's Northern Beaches. At the same time, Perth-based fund manager Primewest is planning to sell one of Perth's most well-known hotels, the historic Esplanade Hotel in Fremantle.
According to the Australian Financial Review, the Belrose was acquired by the Bayfield Hotel Group for about $22 million in an off-market transaction, handled by HTL Property's Andrew Jolliffe.
The Belrose Hotel offers beer gardens, a bottle shop and a gaming room with 25 poker machines. It also sits on a large block, and offers multiple large dining and drinking areas.
"The sale of the Belrose Hotel represents a strategic divestment for Redcape as we continue to optimise our portfolio of strategically placed operating businesses underpinned by real estate holdings," Redcape chief executive Dan Brady told the Australian Financial Review.
The Moelis Australia managed Redcape has been focusing on the Queensland pub sector and has paid $22 million for Townsville's Rising Sun Hotel.
Meanwhile Primewest is looking to offload the Esplanade Hotel, Fremantle's first hotel for $110 million.
The hotel located on the corner of Marine Terrace and Essex Street has been refurbished and restored over the years and now, in addition to food and beverage, it also offers 300 guest rooms and conference facilities.
The space is expansive with hotel sitting over two sites with a total area of more than 1.2 hectares. The sale will include a 3043 square metre landholding. There is also a car park and mixed use property across the hotel at 7 Essex Street.
And the Essex Street site has development potential, with 172 car bays, a 78 square metre leased retail property and a 314 square metre office.
"We have invested considerable funds in refurbishing, modernising and adding facilities to the hotel enabling it to successfully compete with the new hotel entrants in the market," Primewest founding director David Schwartz told the Australian Financial Review.
Leon Gettler - 7th August 2018
