Redcape sells Shafston Hotel in East Brisbane to Tilley & Wills Hotels for about $19m

Well-known Sydney hoteliers have swooped on a renowned Queensland pub that was put on the block by the Redcape Hotel Group.

Pub giant Redcape Hotel Group has continued its divestment strategy which has seen four pubs sell for more than $70m in the past couple of weeks.

Sources say the pub fund managed by ASX-listed MA Financial sold the freehold/going concern of the Shafston Hotel in East Brisbane to Tilley & Wills Hotels for around $19m and a local operator paid about $25m for the Central Hotel, at Shell Harbour in NSW.

The deals follow the recent sale of Redcape’s Aspley Hotel in Brisbane and The Grove in Mackay in Central Queensland to privately owned pub and liquor operator Star Group for $28m.

Redcape managing director Chris Unger said they were pleased with the progress they have made with asset sales.

“In a short space of time, we have exchanged contracts on more than $70m worth of venues, at or above book value,” he said.

The Shafston Hotel in East Brisbane.

Sydney-based Tilley & Wills Hotels is a multi-award-winning hospitality group led by Nick Wills and Simon Tilley. They also own the 132-year-old, heritage listed, The Prince Consort in Fortitude Valley in Brisbane.

In 2020 the Redcape Group exchanged contracts to pay $27.5m the Shafston Hotel and Aspley Hotel. Both hotels were previously owned by US hospitality giant Delaware North.

The sale of the Shaftson Hotel was brokered exclusively by HTL directors Andrew Jolliffe and Dan Dragicevich.

“We’ve been fortunate to sell four Queensland hotels recently, and the vast majority of sales have been made to interstate buyers, highlighting the magnetic investor interest the national buyer universe has for this state,” Mr Jolliffe said.

The multi-level Shafston Hotel is near to both the Brisbane River and Gabba Stadium complex.

The Central Hotel at Shell Harbour in NSW.

The sale of the large format Central Hotel was struck by Mr Jolliffe and Sam Handy having sold the asset to Redcape in 2018.

“The Central Hotel spoke to a specific buyer pool of active clients, and we’re delighted to have been able to match two valued clients together and in doing so conclude a mutually beneficial trade that met with both party’s objectives,” Mr Handy said.

Mr Dragicevich said the sale of both the Shafston and Central hotels by HTL Property illustrates the continued market confidence in an asset class that enjoys the benefit of high barriers to entry, and other forms of protection in contrast to the static nature of other forms of non-residential property investment.

“If you’ve got commercial property interests, or a desire to have so, traditional hotels must feature as a high quality option given their malleability in terms of responding to changing market conditions,” he said.

HTL Property is also selling Redcape’s large format Shamrock Hotel in Mackay, Queensland.