Harvest Hospitality has passed another milestone with the sale of the Northside Hotel in Albury to the Feros’ JDA Hotels for $27 million.
The group acquired the Hotel in late 2021 from the Burke family for $16.2 million with a goal to build value, crucially including raising its standing in the local community.
In 2023 part of the block and the bottleshop business were sold off, and last year they performed a $3.0 million refurbishment designed “with the community front of mind”. The group invested in operational improvements, and launched initiatives such as the Harvest Gold loyalty program and support for a range of community partners.
“We’re proud of the result we’ve delivered for our investors, and equally proud of the experiences we’ve created for our staff and loyal patrons at The Northside,” says director and co-founder Fraser Haughton.
The planned orderly sell-down of optimised assets in Harvest Pub Funds (HPF) 1 and 3 has already resulted in divestment of the Aussie Inn in Adelaide and the Milestone Hotel Dubbo.
Harvest’s strategy at The Northside has reportedly driven significant growth in visitation, reputation and earnings, lifting overall asset value, and the sale delivers an estimated return for investors after fees said to be in the mid-teens.
The sales are part of the broader liquidity strategy for investors, delivering on the investment objectives of the Funds and helping Harvest “to continue creating” as it looks to its next vehicles, an Opportunities Fund and Income Fund.
“While we continue to strategically sell assets from HPF1 and HPF3, we’re equally focused on the growth of our portfolio,” explains CEO and co-founder Chris Cornforth.
“This includes executing capital works across some of our remaining underdeveloped pubs like The Jerrabomberra Tavern in Queanbeyan and The Victoria Hotel in Wagga Wagga early next year.
“We’re also expanding our platform with the launch of two new investment funds, which will see us add more venues, explore diverse hospitality offerings and deliver some new development projects.”
JDA Hotels is John, Dean and Alexandra Feros. This addition to their diverse portfolio follows their recent acquisition of the Crystal Palace Hotel in Haymarket in April, for $35 million.
The Northside deal was similarly brokered by HTL Property’s Andrew Jolliffe and Blake Edwards, with settlement on the freehold going concern expected in February 2026.
“The successful sale of Albury’s iconic Northside Hotel serves as another positive bellwether regarding market appetite, and the expediency of well prosecuted regional investment strategies,” says Jolliffe.
