The Aroney family have listed their generational Caledonian Hotel in the thriving northwest NSW district of Narrabri following the passing of Vasilios ‘Bill’ Aroney.
The Hotel occupies one of the most prominent sites in town, with 94 metres of dual street frontage, including being Narrabri’s only hotel with direct access to the Newell Highway.
It provides a traditional public bar, commercial kitchen and bistro, gaming with 10 machines (entitlements), 13 pub-style accommodation rooms and a large-format drive-through bottleshop.
The business also counts a retail tenancy, currently an employment agency, and a freestanding retail building generating around $34k in annual passive income.
In total the landholding spans four separate titles totalling 2,387sqm, presenting significant future development potential.
Narrabri is a major regional centre of around 13k people, roughly 530 kilometres north-west of Sydney. Located on the Newell Highway, one of Australia’s busiest inland freight corridors, it is a key transport link between northern NSW and Queensland, and boasts some of the strongest economic drivers of any regional centre.
Local industry comprises mining, agriculture, education, healthcare and government and the precinct serves as a primary administrative and employment hub for the broader region, drawing contractors, operators, commercial travellers and tourists, recording 380-480k visitor nights annually.
Its long-term economic outlook is further reinforced by major investment such as the $3.6bn Santos Narrabri Gas Project, and focus on one of Australia’s most productive agricultural regions, the Namoi Valley.
On offer by the Aroney family after more than 50 years ownership is the Hotel, liquor and gaming licences and the adjacent commercial property.
Vasilios (Bill) Aroney took over the hotel from his parents and operated it until his passing in July last year, aged 76. The pub has been closed since.
The sale presents an opportunity to reposition an iconic regional hotel within a community benefiting from sustained investment.
A complicated family ownership structure has prompted the deceased estate to head to auction on Thursday, 30 July, unless sold prior. The in-situ value of the gaming authorities alone is approaching $5 million.
A sale campaign is being managed by HTL Property’s Xavier Plunkett and Ben Kennedy, noting the scarcity of blank canvas hotels offering the level of flexibility and upside seen at the Caledonian.
“The combination of valuable gaming assets, substantial surplus land, multiple potential income streams and Narrabri’s exceptionally strong economic outlook creates an investment proposition seldom available within today’s tightly held regional hotel market,” suggests Kennedy.
