Dave Tomsic’s Black Rhino Group has continued its run into Queensland, picking up Irvin Hotels’ long-held Overlander Hotel in Mount Isa.
Set on a large-format site on main drag Marian Street through Mount Isa’s Townview, the pub counts 40 EGMs, and incorporates a big drive-through bottleshop and 20 motel rooms, with a generous car park.
Joe Irvin’s group has held the property for nearly 20 years. There are only four pubs and one club with gaming in the town of almost 20k people.
Black Rhino is based in Victoria, with a portfolio of nearly 30 pubs.
A few years ago, Tomsic turned his attention to South Australia, when gaming laws changed. The group has gone on to bring more than a dozen pubs in the southern state under the Rhino umbrella.
Late last year the Rhino headed north, buying the St George Hotel, in St George, representing the group’s 40th venue and entry to the Sunshine State.
Tomsic espouses a strategy of the ‘3 Pillars of BRG’ in “Cold Beer, Good Food and Welcoming Spaces”.
Purchase of the freehold going concern of the Overlander continues the expansion into the northern state, the new owners taking the keys late February.
Posting to social media, Black Rhino Group hinted at “more exciting acquisitions to come”, and Tomsic told PubTIC he was excited about the “bargain” he sees in the Overlander.
The off-market transaction was managed by JLL Hotels’ Queensland team.
“We congratulate new owners Black Rhino Group on such a fantastic acquisition in regional Queensland, securing a prime large-format hotel for their own generational ownership and continuing their expansion into the state.”
