Jim Knox is divesting his big-format Gem Hotel in Griffith, described as a “trophy-grade” asset believed to be the highest-performing and most profitable pub sent to market in regional NSW.
The large hotel resides on a commanding 2,547sqm site in the heart of the CBD, fitted out with a sophisticated interior design by Paul Kelly.
It incorporates the multi-award-winning, Good Food Guide-hatted Bull & Bell steakhouse, which was recently ranked among the Top 100 steakhouses in the world.
The hotel is licensed for extended 3am trading, and provides gaming via 29 EGMs, consistently ranked in the state’s top five regional venues by Liquor & Gaming.
There are also 65 four-star hotel rooms collecting premium rates, which enjoy high occupancy in the thriving Riverina town.
Recording gross regional product of $2.7 billion, Griffith is considered an economic powerhouse. Local industry spans viticulture, agriculture, food processing and manufacturing, bringing full employment and generating high household incomes.
This is bolstered by significant government and private infrastructure investment and a large itinerant workforce, which agents suggest are “highly attractive drivers” for hospitality operators.
The Gem reports annualised revenue of more than $13 million, underpinned by the high margins of gaming and accommodation.
An established businessman in the region, Jim Knox entered the pub game around a decade ago with the purchase of the Gem and Griffith hotels, out of receivership.
He has since amassed a sizeable portfolio, which has come to be centred on the New England region, where he now lives.
In 2024 he divested the neighbouring Area Hotel, which is said to be “going from strength to strength”. This fetched $30 million, representing a sharp sub-nine per cent yield.
Knox is now selling the Gem to refocus on other assets in the portfolio closer to home.
Griffith, counting resident population just north of 20K, enjoys an enviably robust economy and only a few pubs. Its Band 3 designation makes for significant barriers to new competition.
Pundits anticipate the sale to be compared against the likes of the Robin Hood in Orange, sold by Jason Marlow in 2023 for $47 million, or the Windsor Castle in Maitland, bought by Harvest in 2022 for $50 million, or the Port Macquarie Hotel – bought by Knox in 2022 for $53 million – with agents offering that the Gem outperforms all of these, on an earnings basis.
“The city’s remarkably strong diversification across many agricultural sectors and industries essentially insulates it from market volatility in any single sector,” says HTL Property’s Xavier Plunkett, marketing the property with MD Andrew Jolliffe.
“The Gem Hotel truly is very clearly a trophy asset by any measure.”
The firm reports over $200 million in recent regional hospitality sales, but Jolliffe offers that the Gem “presents as maybe the most exciting regional hotel asset we’ve ever been engaged to represent”.
The freehold going concern of the Gem is to be sold via Expressions of Interest, closing Thursday, 31 July.
