The acquisitive Harvest Hospitality has snapped up another Wagga Wagga institution, in the form of the hugely popular Victoria Hotel, for a new regional record price of $29 million.
Occupying an imposing 1,311 sqm landholding in the heart of town, the Victoria Hotel is a large-format pub with a 3am licence, providing public bar with TAB, popular bistro, gaming with 28 machines, undercover beer garden, and a separate cocktail bar known as The Loft on the first floor.
The mixed business reports annual revenues in excess of $10.5 million.
Harvest has been operating across regional NSW since 2014. In recent times it has grown with purchase of the Northside Hotel in Albury, and Woy Woy Hotel of Woy Woy.
Fraser Houghton, alongside fellow founding partner Chris Cornforth, says The Vic is “an institution” in the land of many crows. It joins the William Farrer Hotel as Harvests’ second investment in Wagga, which it took over mid-2021, and brings the portfolio to a total of seven.
“The Waratah Fund has operated the pub really well for a number of years,” offers Houghton. “It’s a staple of the town, and we look forward to picking up some of the quality work they’ve done to date.”
The new owners take over The Vic late May, and report some capital improvements in the works.
“Wagga is such a major service centre and is continuously evolving as more and more people, businesses and industries shift towards regional areas.
“We see a lot of opportunity and growth in this region, which gives us confidence to invest further in Wagga, and we hope we can add value to the community and its growing social and hospitality scene.”
Vendors on the sale were Waratah Fund, which has owned the Hotel for over 15 years.
The two groups share a focus on strong regional pubs in the strongest NSW towns.
“Consistent with our recent divestment of the Amaroo Tavern in Moree, we recognise the strong demand and limited supply for quality regional hotel assets across New South Wales,” says Waratah MD Darren Baker.
In early March a Laundy-backed consortium set a new regional record with purchase of Wagga Wagga’s Thomas Blamey Hotel for $25 million.
Only a month later, agents say The Vic transacted at a price point commensurate with demand. HTL Property report sale of 38 regional hotel assets in the past year, including several in Wagga Wagga, and say the buy-side appetite for investments in the region will survive the return of tourism normality, as a regional centre charting a growth trajectory in both its economy and population.
“We see well-funded metro and sub-metro investors looking to regional areas across Australia for investment opportunities that exhibit all the fundamentals offered by city-based hotel operations,” says HTL’s Xavier Plunkett, who brokered the deal with colleague Sam Handy.
