Sentinel Group buys $8m Black Nugget hotel in Moranbah

An investment firm currently negotiating to buy a $300m shopping centre is tightening its grip on the Queensland property market by adding another major asset to its collection.

Sentinel Property Group founder and CEO Warren Ebert is excited to have acquired the Black Nugget Hotel in Moranbah, west of Mackay. Picture: Heidi Petith

An investment mogul is expanding its grip on Queensland by snapping up an $8 million hotel in coal mining country.

Sentinel Property Group – which is currently finalising its acquisition of a major shopping centre valued about $300 million – now owns the Black Nugget in Moranbah west of Mackay.

The 1.7ha site at 81 Mills Ave has a hotel with a bistro, beer garden, bottle shop and two bars as well as three motel buildings with 28 rooms.

Sentinel CEO Warren Ebert said the group was excited to acquire the high-performing asset.

“The hotel investment market has been strong in the last 24 months underpinned by demand from the major retail groups, Woolworths and Coles, property trusts, syndicates and high net worth private investors,” Mr Ebert said.

Black Nugget hotel motel in Moranbah, west of Mackay. Picture: Contributed

“This demand has been particularly evident in the sale of freehold investment hotels which have witnessed yield compression for strong lease covenants.”

Mr Ebert said Cushman and Wakefield research shows venues with large landholdings combined with strong gaming revenues and restructured management were attracting the most attention.

Sentinel Property Group founder and CEO Warren Ebert said the group was eager to buy Caneland Central, a major shopping centre in Mackay valued between $300-320 million. Picture: Heidi Petith

Mr Ebert, whose firm also owns the Moranbah Fair Shopping Centre, said Australian Bureau of Statistic data showed median weekly incomes across the Isaac region were 56 per cent greater than the Queensland average.

“The Isaac region generates economic output over $22 billion per annum with a gross regional product per capita greater than six times that of Queensland,” he said.

The Black Nugget becomes the sixth property in Sentinel’s Northern Australia Investment Fund with further assets held across Mackay, Darwin, and Adelaide.

Pat O’Driscoll Real Estate brokered the sale with a corporate group specialising in hotel motels to own the leasehold under a 20-year triple net lease.

The hotel scored two finalist gongs in the 2016 Queensland Hotel Association Awards.