Cairns real estate: Hotel Grand Chancellor, United Gordonvale sell to investors
Buyers have snapped up almost $30m worth of real estate as the ink dries on two of the city’s biggest property sales of the year.
BUYERS have snapped up almost $30 million worth of real estate as the ink dries on two of the city’s biggest property sales of the year.
The Hotel Grand Chancellor at Palm Cove has sold to a Sydney investor for a cool $10.88 million after being taken off the market earlier this year via an expression of interest campaign.
The prestige site used to operate as the Novotel Palm Cove in the early-90s before later operating under the Rockford Hotel brand.
Known for its famous crocodile slide pool, the 140-room hotel sits on 3.67ha and features a restaurant and bar, meeting rooms, function rooms and retail shops just a few minutes from the Palm Cove beachfront.
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The deal, which included a now-closed convention centre on a nearby site, was handled by Wayne Bunz and Hayley Manvel from CBRE Hotels in Brisbane and Danny Betros at CBRE Cairns.
The hotel has already undergone a recent 80-room refurbishment but the new owners plan to overhaul the entire operation to for a 2022 relaunch back to its former glory.
“It will be great to see this landmark Palm Cove tourism asset be reborn under a different name and be brought back to a five-star family resort,” Mr Betros said.
A team of local consultants has been formed to start planning as a matter of urgency.
CBRE notched up another massive sale with the Gordonvale Highway Service Centre – anchored by a United service station – changing hands for $18.4 million.
Listed company APN Convenience Retail REIT (ASX: AQR) bought the property 18km south of Cairns with more than 200m combined road frontage exposed to 130,000 cars per week.
The United Gordonvale centre includes the service station, McDonald’s drive-through restaurant and a Subway with an average lease expiry date of 9.4 years.
AQR fund manager Chris Brocket said the property was secured “at an attractive cash yield”.
“This acquisition, along with 7-Eleven Kingston, also in Queensland, grows the value of AQR’s portfolio of high quality Australian service stations and convenience retail assets to approximately $738m.”
CBRE’s Michael Hedger brokered the deal with colleagues Joe Tynan and Mr Betros.
“We are continuing to see strong levels of capital seeking opportunities in the convenience retail sector which has been resilient through the Covid period,” Mr Hedger said.
Originally published as Cairns real estate: Hotel Grand Chancellor, United Gordonvale sell to investors
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