Sam Arnaout’s Iris Capital is shuffling the portfolio again, listing prominent Oxford Street icons the Colombian Hotel and Gaslight Inn.
Commanding adjacent sites in Darlinghurst, the hotels have diverse departments, offering food and beverage, gaming, entertainment and accommodation.
They also possess future repositioning potential through their strategic location and scale, as inner-city Sydney property opportunities become increasingly difficult to find.
Sydney billionaire Arnaout began in the industry with purchase of his first pub more than two decades ago, growing Iris Capital to now count dozens of venues, famously including Manly’s Steyne Hotel, bought in 2019, and both Lasseters Hotel Casino in Alice Springs, bought in 2021, and Casino Canberra, bought in 2022, plus a suite of ibis budget hotels, bought late 2020.
He acquired the Colombian in Q3 of 2016 for circa $18 million. The three-storey structure on a 316sqm corner of Oxford and Crown Streets is a former Westpac. It holds a 24-hour licence and 25 EGMs, generating average weekly revenue across departments of around $162k, benefiting from its exposure and high pedestrian activity, proximity to the city and transport infrastructure.
Just a few months later Iris snapped up the multi-level Gaslight Inn, immediately behind it on a 202sqm corner of Crown Street, for $6 million. It too has a 24-hour hotel licence and 25 EGMs, producing overall weekly revenue of approximately $62k.
Iris has a reputation for development and capex, and both venues have been significantly upgraded during the past decade.
But never shy to recycle the capital, as seen in the massive Newcastle portfolio sale and swap with Redcape in July, the Oxford St pair are earmarked for divestment.
Iris declined to comment on the sales.
No price guide has been provided and the assets are expected to attract private investors, developers and institutional capital as well as hospitality operators.
They are available individually or as a portfolio in an Expressions of Interest campaign through JLL Hotels’ Ben McDonald, John Musca and Kate MacDonald closing Thursday, 1 October.
“These are highly recognisable Sydney assets with strong existing trade, meaningful scale and strategic positioning within a rapidly evolving urban corridor,” notes McDonald.
