The Cumberland Lorne conference centre has been listed for sale
“There’s a lot of building for the money,” Mathew George of Savills Melbourne says of the Cumberland Lorne conference centre, which has hit the market with expectations of $2.5 million to $3 million and has the potential to become anything from a coastal hospitality venue to a wellness retreat or corporate escape.
The property at 150 Mountjoy Parade once served the town as a late-night venue/nightclub and was later reinvented as a conference and hospitality component at the rear of the Cumberland Lorne Resort. The building is separate from the accommodation complex, which contains about 102 strata-titled apartments.
The building offers about 1500 square metres of space across three levels on a 1270-square-metre site. The top floor contains a large bar and dining area that opens to a rooftop terrace with ocean views, while the middle level accommodates function and meeting rooms, and conference theatre occupies the ground floor.
The offering also includes a commercial kitchen, furniture, fixtures and equipment, a general liquor licence and an income-producing telecommunications tower lease with Telstra.
It’s being sold with vacant possession by O’Brien Group, one of Australia and New Zealand’s largest privately owned hospitality and entertainment companies.
George says the likely buyer would be a hospitality owner-operator.
“It’s only been on the market for about a week, and the response has been strong so far – mainly from experienced hospitality operators,” he says.
What’s next for the venue?
While its existing bar, kitchen, function rooms and liquor licence provide the foundations for a hospitality offering, the scale and configuration of the building opens the door to other uses, subject to the necessary approvals.
“This property could lend itself to someone in the wellness industry,” George suggests. “It has the room and the ability to convert a fair portion of it into therapy suites, wellness retreats and massage suites.”
The conference theatre and meeting rooms could also be revived for corporate events, school groups and team retreats, or adapted for use by a company wanting a regional base.
“It could be a corporate headquarters – a lot of corporates these days place a lot of value on employee wellness,” George says.
Lorne continues to attract big-name investors
The campaign comes as larger hospitality groups turn their attention to Lorne and the wider Great Ocean Road.
Vendor O’Brien Group’s portfolio includes operations at venues such as GMHBA Stadium, Suncorp Stadium, the Gabba and Bondi Icebergs. Nearby, Justin Hemmes’ Merivale acquired the historic Lorne Hotel for a reported $38 million in 2021 before opening its popular Italian restaurant Totti’s as the first stage of a broader overhaul.
George says Merivale’s investment demonstrates the potential for major hospitality operators to create year-round destinations in a town traditionally associated with a strong summer trade.
Although Lorne remains more seasonal than Torquay, George believes the town could be the next Great Ocean Road market to develop a stronger year-round hospitality economy.
“Torquay is no longer what you would consider seasonal,” he says. “It’s now a 52-week-a-year prospect, and Lorne is only another 30 minutes away. Hopefully, Lorne will be following suit in the near future.
“Lorne is obviously attractive in the sense that decent hospitality opportunities don’t come up every day down there,” he says.
Expressions of interest close at 4pm on September 23, unless the property is sold beforehand.
