Lantern Hotel Group set to exit Queensland with the Cairns Courthouse Hotel and Central Hotel in Bundaberg on the market

THE ASX-listed Lantern Hotel Group is set to test the Queensland regional market, with plans to off-load the Central Hotel in Bundaberg.

ICONIC: The Lantern Hotel Group has the Cairns Courthouse Hotelon the market.

THE ASX-listed Lantern Hotel Group is set to test the Queensland regional market, with plans to off-load its Central Hotel in Bundaberg.

The listing comes a week after the Group put its iconic Cairns Courthouse Hotel on the market through CBRE Hotels.

They are the Lantern Group’s last assets in Queensland and follow the successful divestment earlier this year of the GPO Hotel in Fortitude Valley for $5.25 million.

CBRE Hotels completed that deal and the agency’s Daniel Dragicevich, Glenn Price and Paul Fraser have been appointed to sell the Central Hotel and the Courthouse Hotel.

Lantern Hotel Group chief executive John Osborne said the move to sell the Central Hotel was in line with the firm’s strategy to divest non-core assets and focus on its NSW portfolio.

“The Central Hotel has been a passive investment for Lantern and is subsequently superfluous to our current business model,” he said.

The Central Hotel is being offered as a going concern, including both the business and property components.

The Courthouse Hotel has so sparked a flurry of interest with local media revealing that the listing of the Abbott St watering hole has reignited a multi-million plan to create a sprawling new arts precinct in the heart of Cairns.

The State Government purchase of the heritage listed hotel was part of a 1990s plan to create the precinct that would link the Cairns Regional Gallery with the Courthouse building and the old Mulgrave Shire Council Chambers, which faces the Esplanade.

Glenn Price, senior manager of CBRE Hotels Queensland, said; “The chance to purchase the hotel provides a fantastic opportunity to acquire a premier pub offering with steady trade and potential upside in what is currently one of the key economic and tourist regions in Queensland.”

CBRE director of Hotels Queensland Paul Fraser said there have not been too many quality hotels in large regional centres available outside the southeast region of Queensland in recent times.

“The hotel is recognised by many across Queensland as being an institution in Cairns and we are expecting strong interest from private pub groups, corporate groups and private publicans,” he said.

The Courthouse Hotel is in the heart of the Cairns CBD with near the foreshore and pier, Reef Casino and hotels and backpackers accommodation.

The licenced venue offers multiple bars, a restaurant, function rooms and a large beer garden which has a giant projection screen which displays most sporting events.

It will be sold as a going concern and the sale will include the Commercial Hotel Licence and 35 Gaming Machine Authorities.

During the 2015 NRL season, the Courthouse Hotel became the unofficial home of the North Queensland Cowboy’s supporters as the Cowboys went on to win the premiership over the Brisbane Broncos.