Redcape continues its focus on investment within south-east Queensland, acquiring the newly built Flagstone Tavern.
Redcape has continued its buying spree in south-east Queensland, purchasing the newly built Flagstone Tavern in Brisbane’s booming south-west development corridor. The acquisition comes off the back of the group having spent a cumulative $132m in the last three months acquiring five other pubs in south-east Queensland: first, the Commercial Hotel in Redbank, Lucky Tree Tavern in Durack, and The Willow Hotel, Moorooka; and then the Prince Consort Hotel in Fortitude Valley and the Saltwater Creek Hotel in Helensvale.
The off-market deal was negotiated by HTL Property’s Glenn Price, Dan Dragicevich and Andrew Jolliffe, Redcape has continued its very deliberate reinvestment of capital strategy, announced following the MA Redcape Hotel Fund’s sale of both the Cabramatta Hotel and El Cortez Hotel in Sydney through HTL Property late last year.
Chris Unger, managing director of MA Redcape Hotel Fund, said: “The acquisition of the Flagstone Tavern is a continuation of our strategy to expand our presence in key growth markets and to increase the Fund’s distribution whilst providing long-term value for our investors. Flagstone is a rapidly developing community, and we see strong potential for the team to further integrate the venue into the fabric of the area as it grows.
“As we continue to optimise our portfolio, we remain focused on identifying assets that align with our investment strategy and operational strengths.
“We are very excited about the recent acquisitions we have successfully completed and what they present to the Fund as we continue to execute on our strategy. Supported by strong trading results in our pubs and these capital management initiatives, we have further upgraded our distribution guidance for investors.”
The Flagsone Tavern was built by Balmoral Hospitality Group, headed up by Andrew Denmeade and Joel Fisher, as well as Sydney hotelier Justin Malouf. Balmoral Hospitality Group acquired the greenfield site for the pub in 2019, in what is one of the largest residential developments Iin Queensland. The Greater Flagstone Priority Development was approved by the State Government, and construction will occur over 20 years. Forty-five kilometres south-east of Brisbane, the suburb is one of Australia’s largest urban-zoned greenfield developments with plans for 50,000 homes for 120,000 residents, with 10,000 people employed within the community itself.
At the time of the site acquisition in 2019, Fisher stated: “Andrew and I are very excited about this opportunity. The growth of the Flagstone area is fast paced, with the new Coles Shopping Centre being constructed alongside the site set to open mid next year. For us, Flagstone has very similar demographics and economic drivers to that of Shellharbour when we purchased that particular site back in 2012 in order to construct and open the Central Hotel. Like the Central Hotel, we plan to develop a family friendly venue at Flagstone that will cater for all ages.”
Redcape has shifted its focus onto the Queensland market, having sold several large-format, suburban pubs in greater Sydney last year, including the Vauxhall Inn and Wattle Grove Hotel; The Australian Hotel & Brewery and Eastwood Hotel; and The Crescent Hotel.
“We’ve continued unearthing high quality acquisition opportunities in Queensland for Redcape, and others, and reconfirm our view that 2025 will be a year where the activity focused around the south-east of Queensland augments to other areas within the state; including the Far North and Western Districts,” stated Price.