Renovated wool store offers luxury accommodation project in Bathurst
What was previously a rundown Bathurst motel charging $60 per night is primed to be a luxury hotel, with a New York-style penthouse pulling in $1500 per night.
Husband and wife Hamish and Mez Keith bought the regional town’s historic former wool store last year, kicking off a mammoth restoration and renovation project that saw dozens of tradies on site for months.
“They started to call it The Block,” jokes Hamish.
But with the hard labour done, the couple have decided to sell the Wool Store to focus on their other luxury accommodation business, Wilga Station, on the Keith family’s sheep farm.
The irony is not lost on Hamish; he accepts that whoever buys the Wool Store will likely be direct competition. But he is not worried, citing a big gap in the market for luxury accommodation.
“Bathurst has a plethora of 3.5 star hotels because of the race track,” he says. “They run at 65 per cent occupancy, which isn’t great for a regional area.
“Wilga Station runs at 92 per cent occupancy, without even trying. There’s just not enough luxury accommodation.”
One of the key target markets is the associates and aficionados of high-end car brands like Audi and Mercedes, who regularly visit Bathurst.
The three-storey triple-bricked building now up for sale comprises five separate apartments, unused commercial space on the ground floor and a sprawling, fully furnished four-bedroom penthouse apartment.
The Keiths set about restoring the c1875 building, exposing beams and brickwork, bringing the original hardwood floors to life and rewiring and plumbing the structure.
“We’ve exposed bricks, put in new kitchens and bathrooms, and heated flooring. The big dollars and time has been invested in all the floors,” says Keith.
Great care was taken to pay homage to the town’s history, with original industrial features including the loading doors and gantry retained and upcycled.
The final product is a New York loft-inspired design theme.
Originally from Bathurst, Hamish and his wife and two children had lived abroad for years, leaving the Big Apple behind in 2019 to return and take over Hamish’s parents’ sheep farm.
Armed with inspiration, and a conveniently multi-skilled family (Hamish’s mum is an interior designer, his uncle a landscape designerand his dad an all-round handyman), the Keiths established a luxury accommodation business on the family farm.
Wilga Station – currently operating as a renovated sheering shed and a romantic farmers’ hut – has been a huge success. Emboldened, the couple bought the former Wool Store in town last year, looking to create a sister accommodation site in the Bathurst CBD.
The pair have since opted to sell in order to grow Wilga Station into a wedding venue.
Zoned commercial, the Wool Store has great potential to be a lucrative short-term accommodation offering, Keith says. The penthouse has been appraised at $1500 per night, while the smaller apartments could fetch between $300 and $450 per night.
Based on a 75 per cent occupancy rate, the future owner could reap a gross revenue of $1,047,000.
The asset is likely to appeal to investors, who could outsource short-term holiday management and maintenance, and businesses looking to run a boutique hotel.
Raine & Horne are marketing 121A Keppel Street with price expectations above $4 million.
