Oscars keen on regional hotels after $20m Long Island buy

Sydney-based Oscars Hotel Group is clearly bullish on regional tourism after paying nearly $20m for Long Island in Queensland’s Whitsundays.

Long Island Resort in the Whitsundays, Queensland.

The Sydney-based Oscars Hotel Group is clearly bullish on regional tourism after paying nearly $20m for Long Island in Queensland’s Whitsundays.

Oscars owner Bill Gravanis also confirmed the company had added to its 30-strong portfolio of hotels, picking up the Ibis Styles Hotel in regional Tamworth for about $11m.

Mr Gravanis is confident about domestic tourism and said he was planning a major renovation of the 108-room Tamworth hotel purchased from the Sundarjee family through CBRE agents Wayne Bunz and Hayley Manvell.

“It was a little bit rundown. We will be refurbishing the whole hotel,” he said.

“We love Tamworth,” he added, saying he decided to buy the Tamworth hotel, within walking distance of the township’s CBD, three months ago.

Further north, Mr Gravanis said he had been “inundated” with architects wanting to design his new Long Island resort project on the island off Airlie Beach, but was yet to appoint someone for the job.

Meanwhile, another regional pub, the Harrington Hotel on the NSW North Coast, has changed hands for around $15m.

The buyer was Hunt Hospitality’s Stephen Hunt, who purchased the waterfront hotel from the Nixon family, who had owned the pub for 23 years. HTL Property agents Andrew Jolliffe, Dan Dragicevich and Blake Edwards managed the deal.

In a statement HTL said it was the tenth such sale between Newcastle and the Gold Cost in the past six months.

“We are delighted to be adding the Harrington Hotel to our growing portfolio of pubs,” said Mr Hunt, who also owns hotels in Port Macquarie, the Hunter Valley, Newcastle and the Central Coast in NSW.

“This asset has been in the same family for over 20 years and we are proud to be purchasing such a well-run asset with such a strong mix of revenue streams.

“As always, we look forward to tapping into the local community, as well as capitalising on such a beautiful tourist destination.”

Closer to Sydney, one of the most popular hotels in the inner west suburb of Balmain, The London Hotel, has just sold.

The sandstone-clad pub was sold to publican Ray Reilly by the Stevens family, who purchased the 1857-built hotel from South Australia’s Cooper Brewing family back in 1989.

Just outside Balmain’s shopping centre and fronting Darling Street, the London Hotel has 10 pokies and two bars and was sold by JLL Hotels’ Ben McDonald.

Mr Reilly also controls the Sydney Park Hotel in Newtown, White Cockatoo Hotel in Petersham, The Henson in Marrickville and the Sutton Forest Inn in the NSW Southern Highlands.