The Commodore Hotel in North Sydney has sold for $14.5 million

NORTH Sydney’s iconic Commodore Hotel has sold for a hefty $14.5 million to a private buyer. The 150-year-old hotel sold to a private long-term hotelier group in Sydney.

ONE of the north shore’s most established watering holes, the Commodore Hotel in North Sydney, has sold for $14.5 million.

The 150-year-old hotel, which is rumoured to have once been the drinking den of choice for Henry Lawson, has been sold to a private long-term group hotelier group in the Sydney region.

It was offered to the market by Lantern Hotel Groups, who have been divesting some of their non-core properties as of late to focus on their metropolitan Sydney assets.

These include the Crown Hotel in Surry Hills, Five Dock Hotel, the General Gordon Hotel in Sydenham, Ambarvale Hotel in Sydney’s south west, Uncle Bucks Hotel at Mount Druitt and the Waterworks Hotel in Botany.

Ray White Hotels Australia’s Asia Pacific director Andrew Jolliffe handled the sale of the Commodore on behalf of Lantern Hotel Groups.

“The successful purchaser of the hotel, along with multiple others, was very deliberate in terms of their participation in the EOI sale process,” Mr Jolliffe said in a statement.

The Commodore Hotel in North Sydney has sold.

The longstanding north shore venue is aptly positioned across a 1,138sq m site along bustling Blues Point Rd, which includes large format licensed outdoor areas and 17 gaming machines.

It was originally home to the First Old Commodore Hotel and after several rebirths, was extensively rebuilt in 1997.

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When it initially came onto the market, Mr Jolliffe said the hotel was a rare offering that had attracted significant interest from both publicans and developers.

“It has been maybe the most prolific response in the last two years’ worth of campaigns, because it is a well-known property and (North Sydney) is a very established area ... enjoying a very solid base of residential occupation and development, a CBD commercial workforce influx of some 55,000 people daily; and a major transport hub in the form of both rail and bus interchange,” Mr Jolliffe said.

Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull and Trent Zimmerman pictured at the Commodore Hotel. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“Hotels like the Commodore are very rare in that they enjoy the potent mix of historically strong cash flow generation as well as being situated on very valuable parcels of premium commercial land holdings; providing the potential, indexed to approvals and investment cycle chronology, for downstream development of both a mixed and alternative use basis.

“Additionally, the hotel recently moved up the state wide gaming rankings list by some 130 places for Q1FY17, illustrating one of many upside levers available to a successful purchaser in order to augment the $5.5 million in annual revenues already being achieved under the current operational format.”

ANZAC DAY Two Up at the Commodore Hotel. Picture: Jeff Herbert

He added that Sydney’s stable economic and political environment had seen recent campaigns, including the sale of the Columbian Hotel in Darlinghurst and the Dolphin Hotel in Surry Hills, attract significant interest from both local investors and offshore hospitality funds.

In addition, there is a “swath of very good (Sydney) operators who are not yet represented” in the north shore market who are likely to show interest, he said.

Significant infrastructure projects penned for North Sydney, including the State Government’s proposed metro line, are also tipped to attract a further influx of commercial and residential investors and offerings to the area.