Sydneysider swoops on Victorian surf coast pub

The Wye Beach Hotel is the latest in a string of pubs on Victoria’s famed surf coast to change hands as investors follow the tide of people flowing to the regions.

The growing focus on regional towns and a crescendo of hotel sales activity in Sydney - 32 pubs changed hands in the city last year for $700 million - is forcing many NSW investors to scout further afield.

The hotel was sold by long-time owners Paul and Tess Brown who said letting go was an “emotional” moment.Credit:

The Wye pub’s new owners, identified as the Di Bello family on title documents, run a commercial cleaning business in NSW. They paid about $6 million for the venue on a sharp 4.1 per cent yield.

Nestled on a winding stretch of coast where the Wye River meets the sea, the hotel was sold by long-time owners Paul and Tess Brown who said letting go of the ocean retreat was an “emotional” moment.

“The hotel and the town of Wye River have been such a significant part of our family for a long time, hence it’s been a difficult and carefully considered decision in offering the property to market,” they said.

“We wish the purchaser the very best with their sensational investment, and just as importantly, look forward to seeing the existing tenant continue to thrive in one of the world’s most beautiful locations.”

The pub, on a picturesque site at 19-21 Great Ocean Road, was owned by the Browns for 40 years.

Further along the coast towards Melbourne, another piece of real estate often associated with regional holiday spots, the humble Collendina Caravan Park in Ocean Grove, has sold for about $34.5 million.

It, too, has been snapped up by a Sydney-based operator.

The hotel at Wye Beach has sweeping ocean views.Credit:

The family-run Hampshire Property Group, focused on developing independent living communities for people aged over 50, gained control of the 30-hectare site.

About four-fifths of the caravan park is undeveloped and likely to be filled with portable cabins as the developer specialises in creating villages full of small, inexpensive, prefabricated bungalows purchased on a shared equity basis by its village residents. Hampshire was contacted for comment.

JLL Hotels’ Will Connolly, who managed both transactions, said buyers were hotly contesting regional hotels with strong trade.

“The level of interest and resultant buyer competition in the Wye Beach Hotel demonstrates yet again the furious demand for coastal hospitality assets,” Connolly said.

The clean sweep in which nearly $90 million in pubs and other coastal assets have changed hands began last year when Sydney-based rich lister Justin Hemmes swooped on the Lorne Hotel on the Great Ocean Road.

Hemmes paid $38 million for the Lorne pub, about two hours’ drive from Melbourne.

Hemmes’ rapidly expanding hospitality empire Merivale has long owned multiple venues in downtown Sydney and its suburbs but more recently spread to NSW regional areas.

It pivoted to Lorne soon after buying its first Melbourne hotel, Tomasetti House in Flinders Lane, which was sold by the Millet family for $37 million.

Earlier this year in March, a Melbourne publican paid $11.5 million to snare the Apollo Bay Hotel, giving the pub’s vendor a 10 per cent premium on the quoted price guide.

The bulk of Hampshire’s villages are in NSW, but the group already owns and operates two venues in Victoria, Pelican Shores Estate in Leopold on the Bellarine Peninsula and Lakes Entrance Village on the East Gippsland coast.

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