Warren ‘The Fanatic’ Livingstone has sold his reinvented Australian in Sydney’s rapidly expanding north-west growth corridor, McGraths Hill.
An institution in the burgeoning precinct, the original pub was built on the corner of Pitt Town and Windsor roads by the Maguire family back in 1891.
The two-storey Art Deco-inspired brick hotel today sits on a 5,993sqm landholding across two titles. It holds a late-trading 2am licence and offers a well-appointed public bar, gaming room, expansive outdoor areas, a drive-through liquor barn and multiple large car parks.
In 2022 the Maguire family surrendered their tenure, after 131 years, selling the somewhat under-performing Australian into Livingstone’s growing Highclere Hospitality.
Announcing a “new and exciting hospitality offering” to come, Livingstone executed an extensive renovation and refurbishment, which was completed in 2023.
It now reports weekly revenue exceeding $175K across food, beverage, gaming and retail, with all departments in growth.
The Highclere collection stands at five venues across NSW, including Hyde Park House, the Charing Cross Hotel in Waverley, and Parramatta’s Rose & Crown.
Livingstone is known to invest boldly in what he sees as strategic acquisitions, such as at the Australian and previously at the Captain Cook Hotel in Botany, which he divested to Kent Walker last year for around $35 million.
He says motivation behind the sale at McGraths Hill was a combination of opportunity and being weary of the three to four-hour round trip from home in Sydney’s east.
“It’s a great place, and a great pub, and I’m really proud of what we’ve done there,” he offers.
Livingstone is also the founder and driving force behind Fanatics Australia, which has been mustering local and international sport devotees since 1997.
Beyond sale of the Australian, he says he might look at another pub if the right one came up but stresses he “loves sports” and spending so much time discussing sport and the Fanatics thinks that will dominate his direction.
“I love hospitality, but I kind of love reinventing pubs more than running them,” he muses.
A DA is in the final stages at the Rose & Crown for a new concept Fanatics bar, which will feed into the sports bar, with merch and special attractions for the fans.
“It’s kind of the blueprint for what I hope will be a bit of a convergence of the two business interests,” the first Fanatic explains.
Located on arterial Windsor Road, the Australian Hotel is directly benefitting from the government’s North-West Priority Growth Area, forecast to deliver over 33K new homes and nearly 100K new residents in the coming years.
Understood to have been drawn to the potential in the area, an unnamed buyer has picked up the big Aussie for circa $40 million.
The new financial year has already brought multiple big-ticket transactions, including large Sydney suburban assets, most recently seen in Peter Walker’s sale of the Doonside Hotel in August, and the De Angelis family’s sale of the Bath Arms Hotel in Burwood this month.
The increase in buyer and transactional activity has brought the resultant yield compression, and the successful sale of Highclere’s hotel is likely representative of the competitive interest expected as the year draws to a close.
“The Australian Hotel has been recalibrated into a high-performing suburban hospitality asset, with all the fundamentals astute operators look for,” explains HTL Property’s Dan Dragicevich.
“Its sale underlines the continued appetite for quality large-format pubs in Sydney’s growth corridors.”
The off-market campaign was managed by HTL Property in conjunction with JLL Hotels.
“Warren has done an outstanding job repositioning the venue during his tenure and the value accretion he has now crystallised is testament to his foresight and operational expertise,” added JLL’s Kate MacDonald.
