By Vanessa Cavasinni, editor Australian Hotelier
Businessman and racing car driver Max Twigg has placed the Byron Bay Beach Hotel on the market after nine years of ownership.
Twigg purchased the beachfront pub on New South Wales’ North Coast in 2007 for $44 million. The nationally recognisable pub is expected to sell for around $75-80 million. It is expected that national hotel operators will vie for the purchase of the Byron Bay pub.
The freehold hotel is leased to Melbourne pub operator John van Haandel until mid-2017, with a further two 10-year lease options. The current annual income is circa $4.2 million.
The national campaign is being handled by Daniel Dragicevich of CBRE Hotels and Tony Bargwanna and Andrew Jolliffe of Ray White Hotels.
Byron Bay is a popular beach town attracting both domestic and international tourists, and Byron Shire has a population of 30,000. Among locals, Byron Bay Beach Hotel has a reputation as a ‘Top Pub’, at the centre of the Byron Bay commercial district.
The hotel also has a large frontage on the beach, and substantial outdoor areas. It also includes multiple bars, a bistro with an alfresco dining area, beer garden, a walk-in bottle shop, gaming room, 25 on-site hotel rooms and conference facilities, as well as a pool with heated spa.
Dragicevich said that the nationally-recognised hotel would bring interest from parties interested in large, iconic pubs.
“The national hotel investment market has seen a huge spike in values in the last couple of years with the continued low borrowing rate environment directly linking to capitalisation rates – especially for truly iconic properties such as the Beach Hotel, Byron Bay. Sales of the Prince of Wales in St Kilda, Melbourne and the Golden Sheaf Hotel in Double Bay, Sydney saw competition generated across various purchaser profiles and we expect a similar market response for the irreplaceable Beach Hotel.”
Bargwanna suggested that the continued development of Byron Bay and surrounding areas would also attract savvy operators.
“Byron Bay has become a more and more tightly held market within the last two years and cash flow properties rarely become available. Recent development in and around Byron Bay such as Mercato on Byron, Seacliffs Byron Bay and West Byron Housing Development have also boosted values in the town.”
With over a million visitors to the region annually – both in summer and in the cooler half of the year – taking advantage of tourism dollars will likely attract many bidders for the Byron Bay Beach Hotel.