Cooma's Australian Hotel tipped to fetch more than $3 million at auction
As far as pubs per capita, the southern NSW town of Cooma – considered the gateway to the Snowy Mountains – must be up there with the leaders.
With a total of six watering holes and a population of 6742 at the 2016 census, the town – which was popular with workers building the Snowy Mountains Scheme – has a pub-to-person ratio of 88 per 100,000 people.
Although short of the 133 pubs per 100,000 people found in Balmain, in Sydney’s inner west, Cooma is well above the statewide average of about 27 per 100,000 people.
And there used to be even more pubs in the town, with at least two closing since the 1940s.
Now prospective publicans with a penchant for cooler climes have the chance to buy the oldest of them all – the Australian Hotel, built in 1858 and located on the town’s main drag, at 137 Sharp Street.
Affectionately named “The Aussie” by locals, the site lends itself to a mixed-use redevelopment in the future, owing to its B3 commercial zoning, 15-metre height approval and heritage listing only on the property’s facade.
Strong returns mean it is likely to remain a pub for the time being – it has 15 gaming machines entitlements, giving it 45 per cent of the town’s gaming machines, according to listing agent Blake Edwards, director at HTL Property.
“The Australian Hotel is well-positioned within the Cooma CBD, and possesses the necessary core trading attributes to be the best gaming and wagering operation within Cooma,” Mr Edwards said.
Infrastructure projects in the area, namely the Snowy 2.0, are also expected to boost patronage, as well as demand for the property’s 16 guest rooms.
“The hotel will be a direct beneficiary of the enormous infrastructure spend, and the subsequent increase in new employment expected in the area as a result of the federal government’s 10-year, $7 billion, Snowy 2.0 expansion,” said HTL Property’s Xavier Plunkett.
The pub is expected to be popular with city-based investors who have been pushed out of the metropolitan pub markets in Sydney and Melbourne.
“The regional pub market is currently benefiting from a large volume of unmatched metropolitan-based capital seeking regional opportunities underpinned by quality property holdings and substantial gaming licence holdings” commented HTL Property Director, Sam Handy.
A source familiar with the sale said that price expectations were “well above $3 million”.
The campaign follows the sale of a string of regional pubs conducted by HTL, including three hotels sold as a ‘freehold going concern’ in the Southern highlands in the last quarter of 2019 – the Empire and Southern Railway hotels in Goulburn and the Sutton Forrest Inn.
The Australian Hotel will go to auction on Thursday, March 5, in Sydney.
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