Oscars Hotels has sold the once infamous Plantation Hotel for around $10 million to a Sydney publican and new entrant to the industry.
The large-format Plantation occupies a prominent 3,000sqm lot in Coffs Harbour, providing an oversized bar with multiple service points, popular bistro, gaming room with 15 machines and attractive beer garden all under a 24-hour licence, with 30 accommodation rooms and two manager’s flats upstairs.
In 2015 the pub hit the headlines for topping the OLGR Violent Venues list, but diligence by management, including championing the Don’t Be A Dog anti-violence campaign, saw it fall below the threshold and off the list in November 2016.
The Gravanis’ Oscars discreetly bought the pub in late 2017 from the long-term owner, who was divesting a package of assets in one line.
Signing for the latest sale is an unnamed “prominent publican” and Sydney-based group, partnering with Bradfield Advisors’ principal Ric Kebblewhite in the latest example of pub co-investment.
The Hotel is tipped to see a “substantial capital expenditure program” and benefit from medium- and long-term infrastructure projects and both tourism and population growth in the Coffs region.
Sale of the Plantation for Oscars was managed by JLL Hotels’ Kate MacDonald, who notes the need for more newcomers.
“Plantation Hotel has been an iconic coastal venue for decades,” she says.
“We were excited to uncover an emerging investor in Bradfield Advisors, and continue to search for new buyer profiles through our greater JLL database, as we did with East Village Hotel in Darlinghurst.”
Clubs have such an unfair competative advantage, they pay almost no tax , pay lower rates for gaming machines ,then throw a handfull of beans out to say its community grants . Lets create a level playing feild and ban unfair competative competition