Fraser Short and partners have put to market two freehold going concerns hotels at the same time, in Sydney’s north-west growth corridor.
The two Winsor pubs incorporate a broad business mix across bar, gaming, wagering, accommodation and retail liquor.
The Fitzroy Hotel, on 1,381sqm, is in the heart of the retail and commercial precinct, close to a Woolworths-anchored shopping centre. It holds a 3am liquor licence and 16 gaming machine entitlements.
The nearby Tates Hotel, around five blocks south-west, is on a 1,530sqm site at the southern end of the Windsor precinct. It holds 1:30am late-trading approval and 15 gaming machine entitlements.
Short bought both in January, with two different partners, but sees opportunity in divesting the pair after already fielding approaches to sell.
“We have had four surprisingly attractive offers recently from hoteliers seeking gaming licences as well as a new-to-market hotelier approach us for an off-market sale,” he says.
Having looked at the well-known Fitzroy Hotel, Short teamed with Todd Jacques, owner of Broadmeadow’s Sunnyside Hotel, to buy it from ‘Lion-heart Luke’ Ainscough.
Whilst in the area he spotted Tates Hotel, and subsequently teamed up with a different, unnamed partner to buy Tates from Steven and Lauren Raffen.
“When Tate’s came up it was more a roll of the die than a strategy,” Short said at the time.
The Windsor and Richmond catchments are besieged with development and population growth, amid major land releases bringing circa 33k new homes and over 250k new residents into the Priority Growth Corridor in the coming years.
This has inspired experienced hoteliers such as Nick Wills, Dan O’Hara, Ashton Waugh and Peter Wynne to invest in the area.
Together Tates and The Fiztroy are expected to sell for north of $22 million, as entry-level assets, underpinned by land holdings and structures, and a combined 31 gaming machines – as entitlements reach record values.
The sales are expected to garner interest from a broad range of hoteliers – notably those behind some of the greenfield sites being built in both the North-West and South-West growth corridors. Agents note the properties’ favourable locations in commercial zones, and suitability for repositioning.
Short has engaged HTL Property’s Blake Edwards and Sam Handy, who brokered the hotels in January, and are aware of opportunities presented by the combination of scarcity and scale.
“These hotels also present with a strong amalgamation strategy, whereby a prospective purchaser may seek to acquire both hotels and create a destination gaming room within the Windsor precinct,” suggests Handy.
Tates Hotel and The Fiztroy are being offered individually or in-one-line, via Expressions of Interest, closing Thursday, 23 June.
