Gallagher Hotels has been very active in the pub market of late, buying the Chelsea Hotel in north Sydney off Solotel, before selling the Triple 8 Hotel in Sydney’s CBD to Oscars Hotels.
The pub group headed by Patrick and Angela Gallagher purchased the freehold of Chelsea Hotel in Chatswood late last year, settling the deal at the end of April this year. The group saw potential in both the hotel and in the suburb of Chatswood itself.
“[It’s a] Nice area and the clientele is very similar to the Union in North Sydney. It’s a freehold (strata), it’s a medium-sized investment, its gaming had space for more entitlements, and its food was leased out to a third party, which we could take over,” explained Patrick Gallagher.
Chelsea Hotel is the third hotel in North Sydney for the group, joining the Union Hotel and Hunters Hill Hotel.
“Geographically it suits where I live, and makes it easier for the team to get around to. If you include Ryde and the city, all of our businesses except three are in close proximity. I didn’t plan it that, way, it just happened – lucky I guess.”
Gallagher said that they will refurbish the hotel at some stage, but nothing has been decided other than maximising the gaming offering.
Triple 8 Hotel
The group also recently sold the leasehold of the Triple 8 Hotel in Sydney CBD’s Chinatown precinct to Oscars Hotels. Gallagher Hotels purchased the leasehold to the gaming pub off Iris Capital in late 2015 for $7.5 million. With three years left on the lease, the hotel was sold to fund the Chelsea Hotel acquisition.
In expressing his satisfaction with both transactions, Gallagher quoted English poet Alice Meynell: “Happiness is not a matter of events, it depends upon the tides of the mind.”