The refreshed Waratah Hotel group has taken the deeds to the Royal on Ninety-Nine in Queensland cattle country Roma.
The Royal Hotel at Roma was to be found on the corner of McDowell and Hawthorne streets in the heart of town, a block off the Carnarvon Highway.
In 2015 it was destroyed in a major fire and subsequently acquired by Bruce Garvie and family, who built a new hotel on the 730sqm site, opening mid-2016.
The replacement two-storey building offers multiple bars, commercial kitchen and bistro, gaming room with 18 machines, function space, kids’ play area and beer garden, and a café.
Roma is close to 500 kilometres north-west of Brisbane, and home to some of the largest cattle ranches in the country as well as mining activity courtesy of its reserves of oil and gas, and outlook in the town stacked up favourably for Waratah.
“We looked at this asset pre-COVID,” says director Darren Baker. “We put the brakes on during COVID, but we were able to finalise the transaction. Now we’re just getting on with it.”
Waratah is a pub fund that has been trading in hospitality assets since 2005 – previously known as Pelathon, before that Tank Stream Pub & Leisure and before that Blackwall pub fund. Since June 2019 it has traded as Waratah Hotel Management (WHM).
In 2017 WHM purchased the Queens Hotel Motel in Gladstone and Tandara Hotel in Sarina from Town & Country, but immediately sold off Queens as it didn’t fit with its investment strategy.
WHM’s other pub assets are in NSW, being Mary G’s in Lismore, the Amaroo Tavern in Moree, and the Victoria Hotel and Capital nightclub, both in Wagga Wagga.
Savills Australia director Leon Alaban, who negotiated the sale for the Garvie Group, offered the asset off-market to a select group of operators just prior to the COVID-19 shutdown.
“At a time of much uncertainty, both parties continued to work through negotiations and that ultimately led to a successful conclusion of sale.”
Baker says it’s another welcome addition to the current assets and WHM will continue to consider properties “when they are the right fit”.
“Corporate institutions and investors are still out buying pubs and looking to expand in the marketplace, because there’s still opportunity there,” adds Baker.
“If we get another opportunity, we’ll see. Who knows what’s around the corner.”
