The stately Forbes Hotel in the heart of Sydney is coming back to life and offering a new long-term lease.
Set on a 149sqm block on the corner of King and York Streets in the Sydney CBD, where a pub has stood since the 1840s, the Forbes is a four-storey red brick building built in the 1870s in the Federation Anglo Dutch style, by renowned architects Sherrin and Hennessy. It is one of only three buildings in the style surviving in Sydney, along with the Crown and the Chamberlain hotels.
In 1912 documented changes by George Robert & Son brought a new bar, stairs and York Street entrance. Further alterations came in the 1930s, and an extensive renovation in the 1980s, when the upper floors were converted from bedrooms to restaurants and food service spaces.
The multi-level pub offers a street-level bar, restaurant, gaming room with 11 EGMs, and function space, under a 24-hour licence.
Until late 2014 it was under lease to Iris Group, when the Waugh’s PHMG took on a renewed lease. They worked to secure a DA for the building, incorporating a prized rooftop bar, but listed the incomplete project for sale in 2016.
The pub closed its doors mid-2017 without explanation, and freehold owner Rocco Lagudi began a full structural refurbishment, including installation of a glass roof for the prized rooftop space.
Works are nearing completion and the Lagudi family is offering the revised and empty site, with potential as a destination venue in an historically busy patch of the city.
“We had agreed terms and a lease was signed last year, but COVID affected their finance for the fit-out and they were unable to proceed,” says Peter Seeto, marketing the opportunity through his new firm Cabmon Property.
The Forbes Hotel Sydney lease is for sale via Private Treaty.
