Adelaide property developer George Kambitsis has expanded his CBD holdings with the $8.55 million acquisition of the historic Griffins Hotel on Hindmarsh Square.
The Victorian-era pub sits on a 680sqm site in the heart of Adelaide’s commercial, accommodation and retail precinct.
Significantly, it is next door to the RAA headquarters, which is also owned by Kambitsis.
The sale marks the first time the hotel has changed hands in more than 30 years.
Hospitality operator Your Say Group will continue to run the venue under a lease. The hotel includes 20 gaming machines and is understood to generate estimated net income of more than $470k annually.
Kambitsis told The Advertiser the purchase was a logical addition to his property portfolio given his ownership of the adjoining building.
The hotel has operated from the Hindmarsh Square site since 1850, while the building dates to the 1880s.
Once one of three hotels operating in Hindmarsh Square it was originally known as the King William, before being rebuilt in 1886 as the General Gordon. It has traded as the Griffins Hotel since 1988.
The heritage-listed building retains several distinctive Victorian-era features, including elaborate quoins, cast-iron lacework, a stepped parapet and wide verandah.
Beyond its existing hospitality use, the property has longer-term development potential. The site is within a Capital City zone that allows buildings of up to 53 metres, making it a potential future high-rise opportunity.
However, any redevelopment would need to take the property’s local heritage status into account.
Under the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act 2016, planning approval is required for work that could materially affect the heritage value of the place, with the provisions extending to works such as painting.
Kambitsis said the hotel was being acquired primarily as an investment, with no immediate plans to develop the site.
The acquisition adds another CBD asset to Kambitsis’s growing Adelaide portfolio. The group recently completed the redevelopment of the neighbouring building, now RAA headquarters, in June.
The developer is also behind a 120-lot residential project at O’Sullivan Beach and the $35 million Walter apartment development in North Adelaide.
Savills managing director of hotel capital markets Nicholas Lower said the Griffins Hotel generated significant interest due to its proximity to the Adelaide CBD and Rundle Mall.
“I think we’re really starting to see the landscape change in a positive manner for the Adelaide pub scene, which has probably laid a little bit dormant over the last few years,” says Lower.
