The second half of Damien Kelly’s troubled Pub Invest portfolio has been put to market, being the landmark Crown Hotel of Surry Hills and Nowra’s large-format North Nowra Tavern.
News broke at the start of the year that insolvency and restructuring experts Wexted Advisory had been appointed as administrators to the Pub Invest assets as a result of a partnership dispute, and a strategic divestment of all properties was to be carried out, overseen by the firm’s Andrew McCabe and Joseph Hayes.
This week came announcement that the first round of sales, being the Rose & Crown of Parramatta and Wollongong’s Corrimal Hotel, sold to hungry Sydney operators for a combined $74.5 million.
The second tranche is again to be marketed by HTL Property’s Andrew Jolliffe, Dan Dragicevich, Sam Handy and Blake Edwards.
Pub Invest, aka Peak Investments, bought the North Nowra Tavern in July 2020 for around $13 million.
The coastal pub is strategically positioned beside the North Nowra Shopping Centre, and holds exclusive catchment of around 6,000 local residents, offering bar, bistro, gaming with 25 machines, 1:30am liquor licence and a bottleshop. It is reported to generate in excess of $8 million in annual revenue.
Situated on an underutilized 6,000sqm lot, it also holds an approved DA to significantly increase the size of the trading footprint and optimise the hotel’s layout.
“The site’s zoning allows for significant redevelopment potential and a broad range of permissible uses, including neighbourhood shopping centres, medical centres and motel accommodation,” offered HTL’s Blake Edwards.
Pub Invest snapped up the Crown Hotel in Surry Hills in early 2017, paying the disappearing listed Lantern $26.1 million.
Dominating the corner of arterial Crown and Cleveland Streets, the four-storey building is considered a landmark of the eastern suburbs. It holds a 24-hour licence and incorporates eight accommodation rooms plus a well-appointed rooftop residence with views over Surry Hills, Moore Park, Allianz Stadium, the SCG and Entertainment Quarter.
The gaming operation, counting a full complement of 30 machines and rare weekly 3-hour shutdown, historically ranked consistently Top150 prior to the COVID-19 closures.
“The Crown Hotel is positioned directly opposite national developer TOGA’s $200 million redevelopment of the former Surry Hills Village site, which will feature 200 residential apartments, a 102-room accommodation hotel and around 12,000 sqm of retail, with Coles already committed as the anchor tenant,” notes HTL’s Sam Handy.
Both the Crown Hotel and North Nowra Tavern are being sold through a National Expressions of Interest campaign, closing Wednesday, 6 April.
