Potts Point landmark the Vegas Hotel has come to market, with top gaming performance and built-in development potential.
A former #1 in Liquor & Gaming’s list of NSW venues, Geoff Redmond’s the Vegas has been dubbed one of the precinct’s best hotels, boasting a 24-hour licence and only 3-hour shutdown on its 30 EGMs. Currently ranked #111 it is seen as prime for a return to the upper echelon under “a more focused and aggressive management structure”.
Furthermore, the Vegas is ideal for vertical redevelopment in the increasingly gentrified precinct. Its location on the Golden Mile strip mean it holds B2 mixed-use zoning with 3:1 FSR, and above street level there are three floors currently underutilised for occasional functions, as commercial offices, and a manager’s residence.
There is already scope for additions atop the existing building, and potential for even further airspace realisation, with approval for heights of 55-60 metres granted to some surrounding structures.
The Vegas is being marketed by CBRE Hotels’ directors Sam Handy and Daniel Dragicevich, and expected to be highly sought after, given the strong average 8.5 per cent yield seen through the 13 top gaming pubs transacted in the last six months.
“The Vegas Hotel’s gaming room currently generates an average of $1,179,899 turnover per week and presents a low-energy, single-service point turnkey operation delivering an incredible cash flow,” notes Handy.
“It’s well positioned to be elevated into a top 50 gaming pub given its core trading attributes and the locational gaming demand drivers within the precinct, which include Kings Cross train station, the Kings Cross Centre and a new state-of-the-art Woolworths literally across the road.”
The Omnia development opposite is at the site of the old Mercure and Crest Hotel sold by Iris Capital with approved DA to Greenland Group in mid-2015. Iris is believed to be working on another major project near the Vegas on Darlinghurst Rd, having accumulated a line of properties, The Bourbon, Swans Club, Deluxe Backpacker Hostel and Empire Hotel.
Dragicevich says the Vegas site will interest developers even without any further extensions granted.
“The existing 22-metre height approval confirms that there is opportunity to add a further three floors above the existing building envelope, which provides scope for a six-storey residential or accommodation development whilst leaving the ground floor of the hotel in place.”
Redmond still owns Top50 pub the Vegas at Mount Druitt in western Sydney gaming heartland. He sold the nearby Vegas Seven Hills, also a Top50, in 2014, showing not everything stays in Vegas.
The Vegas Hotel Potts Point is being sold via Expressions of Interest, closing Thursday, 16 March.
