The Empire Hotel, in Kilburn, Adelaide, has been purchased by Endeavour Group for $11.5m

Endeavour group has added the Empire Hotel in Kilburn to its South Australian portfolio in an off-market purchase, with changes to gaming legislation cited as a motivation.

The pub, which is located seven kilometres north of the Adelaide CBD, occupies a prime site of 7,600sqm on Prospect Road, a major thoroughfare into the city centre.

The site possesses schemes for mixed-use development, and already contains 33 gaming machines, a large bar and bistro, and a drive-through bottle-shop.

Facilitated by JLL Hotels and Hospitality, alongside real estate agency TJ Board, the hotel’s sale was an ‘Invitation Only’ expression of interest process. The pub is said to have attracted bids from interstate groups, and local hospitality operators.

John Musca, Managing Director of JLL Hotels, commented: “Real value has been identified in the South Australian Hotel market where recent legislative changes and a stable, less COVID-interrupted trading environment, have drawn the attention of interstate capital alongside a tightly-held local stakeholder group.”

Endeavour’s acquisition is part of a spate of recent activity in the South Australian pub market from national organisations, with Black Rhino Group and Australian Venue Co. also making purchases in the state.

And Will Connolly, JLL Hotels Vice President, states that this is the start of a series of South Australian pub sales, with more to be announced soon.

“The sale of the Empire Hotel marks the first of a string of on and off-market sale announcements.”

“Both interstate and intrastate capital continues to identify value with South Australia as a result of its increasing evolving market drivers and new gaming operating legislation,” Connolly concludes.

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