Real Asset Management have divested an sold a well known pub from Keppel Bay Plaza in Yeppoon for $6.5m

A popular pub in a retail centre in a central Queensland coastal tourist town has a new owner after a successful divestment strategy by its previous owners.

The Railway Hotel which was part of the Keppel Bay Plaza in Yeppoon.

THE owners of a convenience shopping centre on the Queensland central coast have sold the hotel component of their asset after successfully completing a divestment strategy.

Australian-based wealth and asset management firm Real Asset Management sold the freehold of the Railway Hotel in the Keppel Bay Plaza in Yeppoon to a Brisbane-based private investor for $6.5 million.

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The Railway Hotel and adjacent Star Liquor Warehouse recently secured new long-term leases, expiring in 2033, which was the catalyst for Real Asset Management to divest and capitalise on the buoyant hotel market.

Real Asset Management head of real estate Will Gray said: “After extracting significant value from re-leasing both assets, we have crystallised capital returns for our investors”.

“We are continuing to see expenditure growth in Yeppoon and are excited by our proposed redevelopment plans for Keppel Bay Plaza.”

Real Asset Management bought the shopping centre for $28.1 million in 2016.

At the time the shopping centre at 64 James St had a gross lettable area of 6455sq m and was on a 2.3ha site. As well as the major tenants it has 21 speciality shops, the hotel and extensive carparking.

Keppel Bay Plaza and Railway Hotel in Yeppoon which sold in 2016 for $28.1 million.

Yeppoon, 38km north of Rockhampton, is the gateway to the southern Great Barrier Reef and the famed Great Keppel Island.

JLL Hotels & Hospitality’s Tom Gleeson, who struck the deal, said the Railway Hotel was the premier venue in Yeppoon.

“It’s underpinned by strong trading across all major revenue streams and benefiting from its convenient location within Keppel Bay Plaza,” he said.

Keppel Bay Plaza is one of 13 convenience shopping centres in Real Asset Management’s Australia Retail portfolio which continues to have assets of more than $370 million and an overall property portfolio of $460 million

The firm recently launched a separate medical property fund to tap into the stable, non-cyclical returns available from investing in medical-related facilities as Australia’s population continues to age.