Continuing the 2016 run on coastal pub properties, the County Club Hotel is for sale, with pundits expecting another example of sea-change investment by a savvy metro operator.
After nearly 30 years’ ownership, the family company of logistic magnate Jay McPhee is offloading its Country Club pub in tourist-focused Shoal Bay, built by the Randal family in the 1950s.
The Hotel is part of the larger Ramada Hotel site – a 158-apartment accommodation hotel sleeping up to 1,000 people, and a strong complement and buttress to the pub’s consistent trade.
Set right on the beach, the Country Club joins a distinguished list of NSW coastal pubs to hit the market this year, seen recently in the Patonga Beach Hotel and Byron Bay’s Beach Hotel.
It is being marketed for the McPhee family by CBRE’s Daniel Dragicevich and Ben McDonald, who despite recent offerings, note the rarity of waterfront assets with demonstrable upsides.
“Beachfront assets are traditionally held by owners for generations and the Country Club is no exception with this being only the third time the hotel has been offered for sale since the doors first swung open,” says Dragicevich.
“With unobstructed views of the beach and literally footsteps to the sand, the Country Club is the definition of a rare asset and one that will be hotly contested given the current strength of the NSW coastal market.”
The continued attention on metro assets and subsequent shortage has spawned a distinct trend of operators exploring the virtues of pubs in regional and coastal towns. This played most notably with Arthur Laundy’s triple-play in February, grabbing the “real value” Tea Gardens, then Settler’s Tavern and finally the $60 million Crowne Plaza Terrigal.
The County Club Hotel begins a national Expressions of Interest campaign tomorrow (18 August), closing Thursday, 15 September, 2016.
