Justin Hemmes spends $70m on Byron Bay mega-pub development

Property insiders have confirmed Justin Hemmes has spent $50 million on land in Byron Bay, and the Sydney bar king plans to spend another $20 million building a mega-venue on the site.

If at first you don’t succeed … then why not build the dream yourself?

That appears to be the mantra adopted by hotel mogul and billionaire hospo king Justin Hemmes who, after a handful of rejected ­offers to buy some of Byron Bay’s landmark pubs, is set to develop his dream venture from the ground up.

Justin Hemmes at Coogee Pavilion, his first ‘mega-venue’. Picture: Tim Hunter

Northern Rivers property sources have confirmed Hemmes has recently finalised negotiations on one of Byron’s most famous commercial sites — a giant block which formerly housed a Woolworths supermarket in the heart of town — for a whopping $50 million.

The freehold site, on Byron’s main Jonson St, spans 4,128sqm and supports a flexible B2 Local Centre zoning, allowing for a wide range of mixed-use ­development, including hotels, residential and retail.

On it the Merivale boss is understood to be planning a $20 million “mega venue” — similar to his successful Coogee Pavilion — marking his first major foray into northern NSW and only his second interest outside Sydney.

It comes several months after Hemmes first put the feelers out in Byron Bay and just a few weeks after he is understood to have tried, and failed, to secure the nearby Bangalow Hotel for a rumoured $40 million from the Mooney family, headed up by ex-rugby league legend Tom Mooney and wife Cathryn. They also rebuffed a similar offer from Sydney’s other major pub empire, Laundy Hotels.

Byron Bay is the place to be. Picture: Mark Goldstein

Family patriarch Arthur Laundy later settled on the nearby Lennox Hotel, for which he paid $41 million, and more recently the Illawong Hotel in Evans Head.

Hemmes, however, took a different tack and, according to sources close to the billionaire, started his search for a development site.

“The goal then became to buy as close to the heart of town as possible … which isn’t as easy as it once was in Byron,” says a source close to the deal.

“But the planets aligned.”

Hemmes’ new Jonson Street holding happens to be located directly opposite one of the Mooney family’s other long-established pubs, The Great Northern Hotel — one of just three major pubs operating in Byron Bay.

The others, The Railway Hotel — also owned by The Mooney family — and The Beach Hotel — sold for $100 million last year — would face some major competition from Merivale’s venue, which is subject to council approvals. If successful, development would begin ASAP, an insider said.

Hemmes was unavailable for comment, and site listing agent Jacob Swan – JLL’s Joint Head of Retail Investments — declined to comment.