The ready to shine Evening Star Hotel in Surry Hills has been sold for $12 million by Marvan Hotels to up-and-coming hotelier Barham Hamarashid, who is looking to capitalise on the precinct’s resurgence.
Marcus Levy’s Marvan Hotels listed the pub last year, offering a new owner the chance to capitalise on the boost to trade, coming from the soon to be completed light rail project that had plagued Elizabeth Street for the past three years.
Located on the corner of Elizabeth and Cooper Streets in Surry Hills, a stone’s throw from a Woolworths-anchored shopping centre and Central Station rail and bus interchange, the Evening Star Hotel features a spacious single-operation public bar, commercial kitchen, and gaming room with 24 EGMs and its own entrance, all under a 24-hour licence.
It is circled by several TOP 100 and 200 gaming hotels, within an SA2 green zone, creating potential for upside through increasing the gaming fleet by another six machines.
Surry Hills is one of the inner city’s most dynamic precincts, with the brand new Surry Hills light railway station expected to see up to 120,000 passenger movements per day.
Purchaser Barham Hamarashid is a relatively new entrant to pubs, but already owns other commercial property in Surry Hills, as well as the Highlands Hotels in Mittagong (formerly the Lion Rampant Hotel), and Winmalee Tavern, purchased earlier this year.
Marvan purchased the pub in 2014 for $5.5 million and executed a significant renovation, opting to divest with pending upside via a strategic campaign through HTL Property’s Dan Dragicevich and Sam Handy, who note new forces coming into play post-pandemic.
“The purchaser is a relatively new entrant to the market, which serves as an encouraging sign given this is an asset class with multiple natural barriers to entry,” said Dragicevich.
“This transaction further underlines our ability and track record with unearthing non-traditional sources of capital and delivering upon a successful outcome for all parties,” added Dragicevich.
As other asset classes and industries gear back up and investor capital languishes, HTL MD Andrew Jolliffe says hotels are benefitting from their superior cashflow generation, as the company reports its eighth inner-city transaction in the past 12 months.
