Just 18 months after being bought by a local construction company, the idyllic seaside Patonga Beach Hotel is on offer to aspirational operators.
Occupying a commanding 1540 m² of water frontage overlooking Patonga Beach, the hotel is just north of Sydney’s prized Palm Beach, across the Hawkesbury River and Pittwater.
Scape Constructions, headed by local Holgate resident Andrew Smith, bought it in February, 2015. Although not pub operators, the company initiated a number of improvements and concepts to increase patronage, such as a ferry service from Gosford.
It is now being divested through Ray White Hotels’ director Asia-Pacific Andrew Jollife and Manenti Quinlan’s Gerry Quinlan, who note the huge potential for “enviable” weekend and holiday trade from an ever-increasing tourism market.
Some of the biggest hotel transactions in recent times, such as Byron Bay’s Beach Hotel, looking to fetch $70m, and Terrigal’s Crowne Plaza, bought by Arthur Laundy in February for around $60m, incorporate strategically similar attributes of ocean frontage and tourism.
“True beach or oceanfront properties such as the Northies at Cronulla, which we sold late 2014, are always highly regarded by astute investors from a range of investment classes,” suggests Jolliffe.
“Accordingly, our expectation is that the Patonga Beach Hotel will similarly attract strong interest from parties who recognise the unique nature of quality waterfront businesses.”
Agents say the combination of waterfront location, underlying property value and a history of consistent cash flow amount to masses of appeal.
“In a market place where cash at bank looks increasingly like an impotent investment strategy, and investors are desperately hunting yield, buying oceanfront property complemented by a business operation enjoying both longevity and upside, is an un-controversially compelling mix,” says Jolliffe.
The property is being marketed via an intense four-week international Expression of Interest campaign, concluding Thursday 8 September, 2016.
