Feros family buys landmark Crystal Palace Hotel in Sydney for $37m

The pub industry is surging, with big ticket sales again becoming a feature of the industry as top families chase trophy properties.

Feros family’s JDA Hotels has bought Crystal Palace Hotel in Haymarket, Sydney.

The Feros family’s JDA Hotels has swooped on Sydney’s landmark Crystal Palace Hotel in a move that takes its pub portfolio to 14 venues across the country.

The pub market has come surging back this year as a combination of large pub families and institutions, led by Redcape and Iris Capital, have been buying up pubs.

They are buying amid the prospect of interest rate falls and still healthy revenues from gaming machines, which have supported asset values, particularly of trophy pubs.

The pub in Sydney’s southern CBD district of Haymarket was sold via HTL Property in an off-market transaction negotiated by agents Dan Dragicevich and Andrew Jolliffe.

The pub was owned and operated by industry stalwart Jimmy Galanakis for the past 45 years. The prominent George Street venue is across the road from the Central Train Station, and the rapidly developing Tech Central and Central Place precincts.

Although the NSW government is looking to trim the zoning of parts of the mooted over station development, the area is benefiting from more mixed use projects that are expected to boost its population.

The property also sports a 3am Hotel Licence and has early opener privileges, as well as income from 21 accommodation rooms and 27 gaming machines. The stately property also has favourable planning approvals with 50m height approval should the new owners want to add to the property.

The latest pub deal came after years of top pub families putting in offers as the area was transformed by developments at the southern end of the CBD. “I can’t immediately recall another hotel so consistently sought after and enquired about in an acquisition sense as was the case with the Crystal Palace over the past 20 years,” HTL Property managing director, Mr Jolliffe said.

JDA Hotels already had a portfolio of 13 hospitality venues, and which span the eastern seaboard across three states.

In Sydney’s Haymarket area alone, JDA also owns and operates three other popular hotels in the suburb - the Mountbatten Hotel, Charlie Chan’s Bar and the Great Southern Hotel. “We are very excited to add the Crystal Palace to our portfolio, and in particular so as to enjoy the synergies we believe it will be able to create within a precinct we already know so well,” JDA director John Feros said.

“In an increasingly consolidated market, the Crystal Palace was a rare opportunity in that it had remained in the hands of a standalone single asset owner for over four decades; and which in and of itself is a testament to not only Mr Galanakis’ stewardship, but also the intrinsic fundamentals of the property and business operations,” HTL Property national director Mr Dragicevich, said.

The sale of the Crystal Palace Hotel comes hot on the heels of another major pub sale in the city. In that play, hotelier Ashton Waugh bought North Sydney’s Union Hotel from The Good Beer Group for $22m.

Originally published as Feros family buys landmark Crystal Palace Hotel in Sydney for $37m