A syndicate of six investors including Paul Hogan has signed on to buy New Farm’s big Queens Arms Hotel for a reported $21 million.
The syndicate is QAP Holdings, headed by Sydney publican Peter Ashelford and businessman Nick Politis – auto industry titan and chairman of the Sydney Roosters.
QAP was registered in May, believed to count six equal share investors including Crocodile Dundee hero Paul Hogan, as well as Martin Ward, board member of AP Eagers, of which Politis is majority shareholder.
The Queens Arms – known as the QA Hotel – was previously owned by rugby league legend Arthur “Artie” Beetson, but the vendor to QAP was Chris and Lou Condon, who purchased it in 2009.
The Condons recently executed a massive $5m renovation, painstakingly incorporating new interiors and amenities into the 130-year-old heritage building.
The finished product boasts a striking 30-metre glass entry, 40sqm vertical garden wall, and a strong focus on food, with five dining spaces plus contract to supply food and beverages to the adjoining $30m 93-room Sage Hotel, which opened in February.
QAP is understood to control around $100m earmarked for hotel acquisitions, although the Ashelford-Politis partnership has already been on the trail, picking up Robert Fraser-Scott’s Boathouse Tavern at Coomera in February last year for nearly $14m, and Thomas Hotels’ Treetops Tavern on the Gold Coast for $20m just months later.
Sale of the QA Hotel is expected to be completed in September.
PubTIC was unable to make contact with Politis or Ashelford prior to publication.
