Fanatic hotelier Warren Livingstone has landed in Botany through acquisition of the strong-performing Captain Cook Hotel.
The Captain is a heritage-listed pub built 1906 in the retail heart of Botany by Oscar Nielson, who went on to become local Mayor.
It holds a 24-hour liquor licence, public bar, bistro, beer garden and 12 ensuited accommodation rooms, upgraded by long-time owners the Shannon family in 2006.
The pub also counts 18 EGMs, plus an approved DA on the gaming room, designed by Paul Kelly, allowing full smoking solution. The precinct is home to some of the State’s most successful gaming rooms and the Captain is deemed to have the necessary core attributes to join them.
The prominent Botany Road pub also stands to benefit from completion in July of the proximate Frasers Property Australia’s Tailors Walk development, adding 400 new apartments to the suburb.
Late 2016 the exiting Lantern Group sold the Waterworks Hotel, on the same block as the Captain, for a 65 per cent premium to book value, coming in at $17.23 million.
Livingstone, founder of sports devotee group The Fanatics, already operates the Charing Cross in Waverley and Hyde Park House in Darlinghurst.
“I actually spent a fair amount of time as a kid in the Botany area and I’ve always been a fan,” he says. “I grew up around the corner from the Banksia Hotel and walked past the Rockdale Hotel every day, but I don’t have the balance sheet to afford those so this is the next best thing.”
Taking the keys 9 March, Livingstone says he will continue talking to locals about possible plans, and commends the family for fostering a strong community focus in what’s known as ‘the family pub’.
“The pub has a lot of soul, which is the first thing I look for when I’m looking at hotels. Heritage hotels are a pain in the arse with Council … but they also hold so many stories that make them the centre of the community, which is what I enjoy.”
Vendor Gina Hooper says the family is pleased with the transaction and happy to be passing their Botany local to Livingstone.
“Warren is a great publican. We congratulate him on the purchase of the Hotel and genuinely can’t think of a better custodian to take the business forward in consultation with the local community.”
The Shannons engaged HTL Property’s Sam Handy and Daniel Dragicevich to spruik the off-market sale, finding sale price at $17 million.
“We look forward to Warren building significant value into the operation by way of implementing his food and beverage expertise in concert with activating the approved gaming room DA,” suggests Handy.
Joining notable Sydney freehold sales already in 2020, such as the Thorpe family’s Harbord Beach Hotel and Bill Young’s purchase of Five Dock’s Illinois Hotel, HTL bodes that competition furthered by investors looks destined to remain for some time.
“We find ourselves at the beginning of a very long and low interest rate environment, with the only clear way out being to identify and secure assets indexed to attractive, stable yield profiles,” says HTL director Andrew Jolliffe.
