The extraordinary El Toro Hotel of Warwick Farm is being sold by Colin Parras, laden with western Sydney opportunity.
The large-format hotel motel is situated on a big 1.4-ha parcel of land adjoining El Toro Business Park, between residential catchments and the Orange Grove Retail Centre and booming Liverpool CBD, expected to soon be the third-largest in Sydney.
El Toro was bought in 2015 from the listed Lantern Hotels under controversial circumstances for $24 million, to a partnership of Andrew Lazarus and Colin Peter Parras. Although already undergoing a portfolio shakeup, major Lantern shareholders and the new incoming directors were not in agreement, holding an emergency meeting and electing to immediately dismiss the company’s executive director.
The sale agreement held, with Lazarus noting the pub’s poor condition and need for major capital investment. The partners subsequently executed several renovations and installed new elements to the business, including outlets of the Eastern Hotel’s El Topo Mexican diner and popular Goodtime Burgers.
Early 2022 the Lazarus family orchestrated a discreet sale of their holdings to Parras in a transaction valuing the property at more than $70 million.
It now sports a new, recently opened gaming room designed by Paul Kelly, featuring the full complement of 30 EGMs and already generating north of $3 million in turnover per week.
Representing further immediate upside potential, the Hotel holds a comprehensive, recently approved DA that will allow 24-hour trading and 1,800-pax capacity, with an expansive outdoor area. There is a significant onsite carpark, but approximately two-thirds of the site is now licensed area.
There are also 52 “ready-to-renovate” motel rooms, well placed to capitalise on the resurgence of short-stay accommodation in pub-style venues.
Pitched as arguably metropolitan Sydney’s “most sought-after hotel” it is being sold through JLL Hotels’ Ben McDonald and John Musca, who see it as attracting both hoteliers and investors seeking assets with robust existing earnings growth plus redevelopment potential.
The El Toro Hotel is being sold via Expressions of Interest, closing Wednesday, 26 July.
