With one on the market, the Fermanis family has taken an unsolicited offer on title to its Montague Hotel on a tight Victorian return.
Recently listing its Abbottsford pub, the Fermanis’ were approached off-market to sell their quaint corner pub The Montague, on 277sqm in well-populated South Melbourne.
While the Retreat is being offered as a vacant freehold, The Montague holds an 18-year lease with further five-year options, the purchase price representing a sharp yield below 4.5 per cent.
“While our family and I weren’t actively seeking to sell the property, the offer presented to us was simply too attractive to ignore and in the end we believe we achieved an incredible result, while the purchaser also secured an asset they had a huge desire for,” says Noel Fermanis.
The mainland’s most compact State, returns on commercial property in Victoria have contracted significantly more than the median, even tourism-driven Queensland and economic lynchpin NSW, and The Montague holds the future benefit of Neighbourhood Residential zoning, bolstering its $3.3m sale price reported in the SMH.
“The sale of The Montague Hotel is a perfect example of our market’s appetite for secure investment pub assets,” suggests CBRE’s Will Connolly.
“With a well-regarded tenant and in excellent condition this kind of opportunity is highly sought after, as highlighted by the speed at which buyers secure hotels on- and off-market.”
The Fermanis family’s other hotel, Abbottsford’s Retreat Hotel, will go to auction 2 March.
