The Dennises have divested their big suburban Aussie in Nowra to experienced local hotelier Andrew Denmeade.
The Australian Hotel is a suburban stalwart, with public bar and gaming, bistro and bottleshop. It sits on a 2,665sqm site adjoining an ALDI shopping centre, adjacent to both a Coles and Woolworths, in the heart of the Nowra CBD. The gaming operation is consistently the strongest in the LGA, outperforming the nearby North Nowra Tavern, in an outdated room, with less machines.
It generates around $6 million in annual revenue across departments, and hit the market early last year, touting upside potential in approved extended trading, and approved plans for both a new gaming room and reconfiguration and refurbishment of the rest of the hotel.
There is further scope in reactivating the 15 dormant accommodation rooms on the first floor.
Michael and Kylie Dennis bought the freehold in 2008 and have owned and operated it for the past 17 years.
In 2023 they acquired the Central Hotel in Shellharbour in an off-market deal for $28 million, from Redcape, and cited a desire to focus more time and energy on this as their primary motive behind sale of the Aussie.
The Aussie is one of only two on the northern side of the Shoalhaven River; a region expected to see continued growth. The 425-ha greenfield site known as Badagarang, at Bomaderry, is slated to bring approximately 3,500 new homes and 10K residents.
Stepping in for the next chapter, Denmeade is a well-known Illawarra publican that has owned numerous hotels on the NSW South Coast over the course of the last two decades – previously including Shellharbour’s Central, which was one of a set he sold to Redcape late 2018.
“The hotel is currently unrenovated, underperforming and represents an incredible opportunity for Andrew and his team to activate the two DA approvals,” offered HTL Property’s Blake Edwards, who marketed the property with colleague Sam Handy.
South coast hotels have historically proven highly desirable, often possessing the lauded “macro investment fundamentals” and high barriers to entry.
Other recent large format pub sales in the Illawarra region have included the Unanderra Hotel, sold to Oscars by Redcape late 2023, and Paddy Coughlan’s sale of the Five Islands in 2022 for $27 million.
