‘Stately’ Sydney pub sells for about $30m
Sydney’s multistorey Agincourt Hotel in Haymarket’s developing tech precinct has sold off-the-market for about $30 million to a new pub group.
It was sold by a consortium headed by former publican Terry Reichel, who once owned The Courthouse Hotel in Darlinghurst.
The transaction follows the sale of the nearby Crystal Palace Hotel which was snapped up by the Feros family’s JDA Hotels for $35 million last month in the upcoming $3 billion Tech Central – forecast to offer 268,000 square metres of commercial space once complete.
Nasdaq-listed Atlassian is also building a $1 billion-plus Australian headquarters in the precinct, which is expected to host 4000 of its employees once it is built.
Selling for the first time in 25 years, the Agincourt Hotel generates an annual revenue of about $5.2 million across its bar, food and gaming offerings. It has a 24-hour liquor licence and 30 gaming machines attached to the sale.
Club 871 operates on its first floor, and live entertainment space The Alley is on its basement level.
The Agincourt Hotel also laid claim to being Australia’s first greenhouse friendly, carbon-neutral pub as of January 1, 2007.
While Andrew Jolliffe, managing director of HTL Property, declined to comment on the owners or sale price of the hotel, he said Sydney was fortunate to have such properties with stately, mid-century architecture which could be used for hospitality.
“The Agincourt, like the Crystal Palace sale last week, is one such example and further validation of our view that investors will continue to front-run the improved aesthetic and availability of credit to take positions in hard yielding property assets,” Jolliffe said.
“It’s really quite a definitive point in time.”
Dan Dragicevich, national director at HTL Property, said there had been a noticeable surge in buyer inquiries in the past six months.
“(This has been) spurred on by now consecutive and further forecasted interest rate cuts, a majority government election result and a tightening in the availability of quality stock,” Dragicevich said. “We therefore expect cap rates to continue to compress throughout the year.”
