Sydney’s General Gordon pub emerges from ashes to sell for $30m
Rebuilt after a catastrophic fire, pub joins a growing list of big sales as Sydney hotel market runs hot.
The partially-rebuilt General Gordon Hotel at Sydenham in Sydney’s inner west has been snapped up by the Feros family-backed JDA Hotels for about $30m.
The deal is the latest of a strong run of buying by the city’s big pub owners, who have driven pricing well beyond levels before the coronavirus crisis.
Recent buyers include Justin Hemmes’ Merivale which picked up Randwick’s Duke of Gloucester for $32m, but much of the action has been in the city’s southern and western suburbs.
The sale of the General Gordon, which is being rebuilt after being badly damaged by fire in 2018 and which is now due to open in April, comes as the city‘s pubs are being chased by investors keen to ride the sector’s recovery.
The pub was sold by a private White & Partners trust which tapped Andrew Jolliffe and Dan Dragicevich of HTL Property to run an off-market campaign.
It caught the eye of several Sydney hotel groups before it was bought by incumbent managers JDA Hotels, which is backed by the pub-owning Feros family.
“We have enjoyed a long and favourable association with the hotel; and following the unintended hiatus, we are now super-excited about the magnitude of not only the rebuild, but also the vast potential contained in the area,” JDA Hotel‘s chief executive John Feros said.
There has been a run of sales of high-profile venues including The Courthouse Hotel in inner city Surry Hills, which was bought by Moelis Australia Hotel Management for $22m, and the Bidwell Hotel in Sydney‘s western suburbs, snapped up by the Laundy family for $35m.
Hotel broker HTL has sold nine hotels this year and Mr Jolliffe, director of HTL Property Asia Pacific, said that in the absence of a “left field” hit to the market, the next 24 months would see the greatest period of market activity on record.
Last month, Sydney developers Jaga Group bought Alexandria’s Camelia Grove Hotel from industry stalwart Adella Wright-Young, who owned and ran the hotel for some 38 years.
Jaga Group owns several similar pub and accommodation developments across Sydney. Developers also bought the Engadine Tavern and Narwee Hotel for potential overhauls.
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