Sentinel Property Group has acquired the freehold of the Black Nugget Hotel Motel complex in Moranbah in central Queensland for $8 million.
The complex sits on 1.74ha of land in the coal mining town, with immediate development potential for residential apartments or additional amenities on surplus land. The property was sold by a private investor through Pat O’Driscoll Real Estate, and will now become part of the Sentinel Northern Australia Investment Fund (SNAIF), which includes other retail and commercial properties in Queensland, the Northern Territory and South Australia.
The Black Nugget’s facilities comprise five buildings: the hotel, three motel buildings with 28 rooms and a manager’s house. The hotel includes a public/sports bar, gaming room with 40 EGMs, function room, beer garden, bistro and commercial kitchen, dual lane drive-through and walk-in bottle shop, and back-of-house areas. The hotel licence includes one detached bottle shop located within the nearby Moranbah Fair (Coles) Shopping Centre, which is also owned by Sentinel.
Sentinel have stated that a highly experienced hotel motel corporate group will own the hotel and motel’s leasehold under a 20 year triple net lease.
“The hotel investment market has been strong in the last 24 months underpinned by demand from the major retail groups, Woolworths and Coles, property trusts, syndicates and high net worth private investors,” stated Sentinel Property Group CEO Warren Ebert.
“This demand has been particularly evident in the sale of freehold investment hotels which have witnessed yield compression for strong lease covenants. According to Cushman and Wakefield research, venues which have large landholdings, strong gaming revenue and potential to add value through restructure of management have attracted the most attention.”
Moranbah is the largest town by population within the Isaac Region of central Queensland, with a strong economy underpinned by mining and agriculture.
“The Isaac Region generates economic output over $22 billion per annum with a Gross Regional Product per capita greater than six times that of Queensland,” stated Ebert.
“The Isaac Region median weekly incomes are 56 per cent greater than Queensland’s median weekly incomes, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.”
The Black Nugget will be the sixth property in the Sentinel Northern Australia Investment Fund.