Harbour View’s $12m deal leads run of Sydney pub sales

Sydney’s heritage-listed Harbour View Hotel has sold for $12m after five days on the market.

The Harbour View Hotel in The Rocks, Sydney..

Sydney’s heritage-listed Harbour View Hotel, one of the few freehold pubs in The Rocks, has sold for $12 million after five days on the market, while closer to the CBD the leasehold on The Criterion has changed hands for $15m after being picked up by a syndicate involving Simon Tilley and Nick Wills.

The popular Irish pub P.J. Gallagher’s at Enfield has also apparently sold for about $3m, on the heels of Arthur Laundy’s recent snap purchase of the Oxford Hotel in suburban Drummoyne for just under $42m.

The Criterion was purchased by investment syndicate Tilley & Wills Co, from Gallagher Hotel Management, in a deal negotiated by JLL’s John Musca and Tom Gleeson.

Since their formation two years ago, Tilley & Wills Co have also bought the Veranda Bar in the CBD for $9m and have since relaunched it. The group is also operating Mosman’s Buena Hotel and the Clovelly Hotel on behalf of private owners.

The Criterion Hotel is one of the top 100 state-ranked gaming venues and the opening of the Pitt Street Metro Station directly ­opposite and two 35-level and 43-level commercial office and residential towers proposed above will be a boon for the long-term 20-year leasehold business, according to the selling agents.

“Sydney CBD hotel opportunities are in very limited supply, so having received 12 bids from suitors across three states and of very differing buyer profiles, it was no surprise to see the hotel operation keenly contested,” JLL national director Mr Musca said.

Mr Musca has also recently sold the long-term leasehold in the Cambridge Tavern in the outer-west Sydney suburb of Fairfield for $18m.

“Both the Cambridge and Criterion leasehold sales point to a renewed capital appetite for hotel cash flows under the long-term leasehold tenure model,” Mr Musca said.

Meanwhile, the Harbour View Hotel’s new owners, which are yet to be named, are planning a potential new rooftop bar to capitalise on the hotel’s spectacular views of Sydney Harbour. Vendor Brian Perry bought the popular hotel for $2.18m in 1998.

Built in 1924, the Harbour View Hotel sports 15 pokies, a bar and restaurant along with function rooms and a rooftop terrace.