Hot on the heels of his partnership sale of Ryde’s Royal Hotel, Patrick Gallagher has passed the title of his home base Union Hotel in North Sydney to John Azar and the Good Beer Co.
Located on a 784sqm lot on the prominent corner of the Pacific Highway and West Street, the Union is a proud Art-Deco-style two-storey pub providing three bars, a restaurant, gaming with 21 machines, function room and offices.
Azar’s Good Beer Company (GBC) has paid a reported $20 million for the North Sydney landmark, adding to his presence in the precinct.
Azar has actively reshuffled the GBC portfolio. In 2019 he picked up the Commodore Hotel at McMahons Point, just two kilometres from the Union, for $18.5 million, and late last year divested both the Four in Hand to Colin Parras for $8.5 million and the Duke of Gloucester in Randwick to Merivale for $32 million.
GBC still holds Surry Hills’ craft beer mecca, the KB Hotel.
The Union was the Gallagher family’s longest-held asset, and the sale comes as they considered a refresh for the hotel and portfolio in a dynamic market.
“We’d been there the longest time, 20 years,” explained Gallagher, former AHA Publican of the Year.
“It wasn’t a decision we took lightly, we just thought it was better for the portfolio.
“We’d expanded a little, and felt we’d done enough at North Sydney; it was probably time to do something with it and we thought maybe it’s a good thing for this to happen under someone else with fresh ideas.”
