Singaporeans pluck Sydney hotel from Crown collapse
A prominent Sydney CBD hotel has been sold by the receivers for collapsed property developer Crown Group, co-founded by Iwan Sunito, to a Singaporean hospitality player for $68 million, marking the city’s largest hotel deal so far this year.
Furama Hotels International will take control of the Skye Suites Sydney Hotel and Our Skittle Place Retail on Kent Street after it was listed for sale by receivers in May. The hotel launched in 2018 and has 73 serviced apartments, while its retail precinct is Soul Origin and has six shops on the ground floor.
Founded by Sunito and his former business partner Paul Sathio, Crown Group once owned three Skye Suites facilities – in Parramatta, Green Square and the Sydney CBD. But after the two founders fell out bitterly two years ago, properties held by Crown were divided up, sold off or in some cases taken over by receivers.
The Sydney hotel is part of a larger, 25-storey development by Crown called the Arc, which has 173 residential apartments, as well as a rooftop courtyard and lounge, gym and pool.
The Green Square hotel is now owned by Sunito’s One Global Capital. The Parramatta hotel is expected to be put on the market by its receivers by the end of this year.
Stonebridge’s national director, Lincoln Blackledge, who co-managed the Sydney hotel deal with HTL Property, declined to discuss details of the transaction, but said it was very rare for five-star hotels to come to the open market in Sydney.
“This is one of the most modern, recently constructed five-star hotels in Sydney,” Blackledge told The Australian Financial Review. “The fact that it’s come to market at all is rare, but the fact that [it’s] virtually brand new is extremely rare.
“That’s why it attracted over 300 inquiries and more than 20 bids.”
Furama Hotels International has more than 40 hotels and 7500 rooms across the Asia-Pacific region and is based in Singapore. The first Furama Hotel in Australia was its Darling Harbour outfit, which opened last year, taking over a Holiday Inn.
Andrew Jackson, national director of accommodation at HTL Property, said Sydney stood out as one of the most attractive hotel investment markets in the Asia-Pacific region, alongside Tokyo.
“According to NAB’s most recent Commercial Property Survey, investor sentiment in Australia’s commercial property market has hit an eight-year high this past quarter, with CBD hotels leading the charge as the asset class investors have the most confidence in,” Jackson said.
Dean Dransfield, a long-time transactions and development adviser to hoteliers, said there hadn’t been many hotel transactions since interest rates began falling this year.
“What I’m hearing from investors is that they really are looking for a couple of things to be sold so they can get some confirmation that yields have come back in,” Dransfield said. “That’s where anything that’s current is very helpful.”
