The Good Beer Group has sold North Sydney landmark, The Union Hotel to Watering Hole Hotels, led by generational publican, Ashton Waugh.
Sold in an off-market process by HTL Property, this takes Watering Hole Hotels’ portfolio to 15 venues across New South Wales.
Waugh has expressed his excitement for the purchase.
“We’re delighted to acquire this significant Sydney freehold hotel, and in doing so, continue to deliberately expand our group into both metro and regional areas,” said Waugh.
The Union Hotel occupies a prominent 784sqm landholding with two floors offering over 1200 sqm of trading footprint. Generating more than $5.5m in annual revenues, the venue also features a midnight hotel license and 26 gaming machines in operation.
HTL Property National Director, Dan Dragicevich said the purchase comes at a good time.
“Expected interest rate cuts generally result in buoyant on-premise trade and resultant yield compression; whilst assets such as the Union Hotel, with such commanding real estate attributes, also provide the comfort of a high asset floor which hasn’t proven available in the equity markets of late” concluded Dragicevich.
HTL Property’s Sam Handy acknowledged the growth potential for the venue.
“The North Sydney CBD is experiencing unprecedented and significant growth, driven by a combination of government investment, planned infrastructure and strong private development interest seeking to accommodate an additional 6,000* residents and 20,000* workers over the next decade.”
“As such, the macro investment fundamentals for an incoming hotelier are incredibly attractive, particularly considering there are only seven pubs within the North Sydney CBD servicing this already voluminous and growing local population” added Handy.
Good Beer Group led by John Azar maintains a stable of predominantly CBD-focused pub assets, including the Edinburgh Castle Hotel, Coronation Hotel and the KB Hotel in Surry Hills.