Industry mover and shaker Solotel has continued its forecast reshuffle, listing the Bridgeview Hotel and expansion opportunity in Willoughby.
The three-level pub was erected in 1928 by Tooth’s and Co on arterial Willoughby Road, in what has become the suburb’s main retain strip. Since 2012 it has been owned and operated by Solotel.
It offers a sprawling public bar, bistro, elevated outdoor area, gaming with 28 machines (seven leased) split across an indoor area and smoking solution area, and 16 pub-style accommodation rooms across the top two levels, sporting views over Sanders Park. It holds a 1am licence and reports annual revenue north of $5.3 million.
In recent years Solotel has worked toward a major reconfiguration of the main trading level for better use of underutilised areas. Plans constructed with H&E Architects include taking in the adjoining premise, and have been broached with council but do not yet have an approved DA.
The Willoughby LGA counts population of 80k residents and the Hotel is proximate to multiple high-profile residential and mixed-use developments, such as Mirvac’s recreation of the former Channel 9 studios site.
In keeping with this activity, the pub’s closest competitor was recently sold to developers.
Solotel has similarly recently divested some of its holdings, completing a leasehold portfolio sale to AVC, and tipping the upcoming listing of the Bridgeview.
“The sale was announced in late January as part of Solotel’s strategy to form a smaller, sharper, Solomon family-led group,” says group CEO Elliot Solomon.
“It will also support our plans to reinvest across our remaining portfolio and invest in new bars and restaurants.”
The freehold going concern amounts to 1,362sqm across three titles – which includes the adjoining premises.
It is being sold via an Expression of Interest campaign through HTL Property’s Dan Dragicevich, Andrew Jolliffe and Sam Handy, closing Wednesday, 18 March.
The affluent lower north shore is one of the most under-pubbed regions of Sydney and subsequently tightly held, putting an added layer of rarity to the Bridgeview offer.
“This densely populated corridor of Sydney has an extremely low Hotel per capita ratio, which has been strengthened even further with the recent closure the nearby Northbridge Hotel, formerly the Bridgeview’s closest competitor,” suggests Jolliffe.
Poised for reinvention, the Hotel is well positioned to take advantage of the scale of development and population growth in the area, and having fielded interest in the sale of North Sydney’s Fire House Hotel in 2025, agents are expecting plenty of interest in the Bridgeview’s potential.
“Solotel has done a great job over their tenure, however the incoming operator will benefit from the significant planning the company has already undertaken so as to incorporate an adjoining property into the operations and reformat what is currently in place,” added Dragicevich.
