The ultra-waterfront Harrington Hotel has been sold by the Nixon family to the pub coast king, Stephen Hunt.
Having purchased the pub in 1998, the Nixons have sold the Hotel in line with market guidance, sources say was $15 million, to the Stephen Hunt-led organisation.
“This asset has been in the same family for over 20 years, and we are proud to be purchasing such a well-run asset with such a strong mix of revenue streams,” says Hunt.
“As always, we look forward to tapping into the local community, as well as capitalising on such a beautiful tourist destination.”
Harrington is around 330 kilometres north of Sydney, a little south of Port Macquarie.
The Hotel provides public bar, commercial kitchen, newly renovated gaming operation with 22 machines, a large adjacent car park, six unused pub-style accommodation rooms and a three-bedroom manager’s residence upstairs, and the Pacific Ocean literally lapping against its beer garden wall.
Hunt Hospitality already counts properties in Port Macquarie, the Hunter Valley, Newcastle and the Central Coast of NSW and Harrington adds to the coastal portfolio in a deliberate strategy. The group’s Ocean View Hotel in Urunga is a couple of hours north of home base. Between the two is the Harrington, and Finnian’s Irish Tavern in Port Macquarie.
“We’re sort of plotting it,” Hunt says. “We’ve got three within a reasonably close range, which is what I want … not fully clustered, but close enough you can share resources a bit.”
Hunt Hospitality actively pursues innovation in its operations, seen in its employee assistance program, and is currently a finalist in the Financial Review’s awards for Australia’s most innovative company.
Public sale process on the Harrington was managed by HTL Property’s Andrew Jolliffe, Dan Dragicevich and Blake Edwards, attracting multiple offers to purchase and representing the tenth such sale between Newcastle and the Gold Cost in the past six months.
HTL suggest owners of unique generational assets such as the Harrington typically see only one optimal exit event opportunity, increasingly coming through strong, well-funded operators.
“Stephen Hunt’s sophisticated pub fund is emblematic of an asset class represented by powerful swathes of equity and experience,” says Dragicevich.
