AVC has continued its unyielding acquisition strategy, picking up two more pubs including the biggest 2021 sale to date in Queensland, in association with listed landlord HPI.
Currently working on its book build for an IPO tipped for coming weeks, Australian Venue Co (AVC) has increased the portfolio with its second pub in Yarrawonga, and at the resort-style Surfair Beach Hotel, on the Sunshine Coast.
The Terminus, known locally as the ‘Termo’, was built 1882 and has been a treasured part of the Victorian town of Yarrawonga, on the border with NSW, around three hours north of Melbourne.
It offers a sports bar, pub dining, functions and beer garden, and boasts a six-month refurbishment completed at the end of 2020.
AVC chose to partner with the landlords to retain a genuine ‘local’s’ feel and will begin operations next week. The Terminus joins the group’s Criterion Hotel in Yarrawonga, acquired at the start of this year.
“AVC is delighted to welcome the Terminus Hotel team and has a great respect for the long history of the venue,” offered a spokesperson.
The Surfair Beach Hotel in Marcoola was built 1971 and recently celebrated its semi-centennial. Located at Marcoola Beach, just 25 minutes South of Noosa, it was one of the precinct’s first high-rise buildings, incorporating what is now Wyndham’s Ramada Hotel.
The large site offers patrons and hotel guests a sports bar, bistro, and picturesque garden bar – mere metres from both the surf and the Ramada’s 60-metre lagoon pool. There are also multiple function spaces that can be further divided, which are very popular with weddings.
Throughout the 1980s the Surfair became famous as a live music destination, hosting classic Australian bands such as Cold Chisel, INXS, Midnight Oil, The Angels, Hoodoo Gurus, Skyhooks, Mental As Anything, The Radiators, Mondo Rock, and Hunters and Collectors.
In early 2016 it was put to market, but the climate was not right and a sale did not manifest.
Title on the Hotel has now moved to industry heavyweights Hotel Property Investments (ASX:HPI). AVC comes in as tenant and reports “no major changes are planned” for the venue at this stage.
Agents on the deal were HTL Property’s Glenn Price and Brent McCarthy, who suggest AVC stands to “further expand the multiple revenue streams” via its economies of scale and national systems.
Price sold the pub to the vendor, Tony Scanlon, in 2014, and says they have earned the result.
“It is a credit to the Scanlon family for what they have created at the Hotel, and regarding the solid business that has stemmed from their tireless efforts over the last seven years of ownership.
“The business has undoubtedly become one of the leading hotels on the Sunshine Coast during the family’s tenure.”
Bolstered by yields “more palatable” than other eastern states, HTL report the level of activity is pushing purchasers to consider larger regional and coastal areas, beyond the typical south-east of the state.
“The Queensland market has simply exploded out of the gates this calendar year, following on from the high level of transactions towards the end of last year, and coming off the back of buoyant trade post the CV-19 shutdown,” says Price.
“The sheer depth of qualified buyers is the strongest it has been in the last 10 years, with new interstate entrants contacting our office every week looking to conclude transactions.
“This, coupled with robust interest from seasoned private and institutional groups already in-situ, dictates that quality hospitality property is being hotly contested both via on- and off-market sales campaigns.”
