By Andy Young
The Grand National Hotel, located in the Sydney suburb of Paddington has been sold to a private investor for $7.25 million.
The pub has recently had its ground floor completely refurbished by its tenants LJB Hotels and the new owners are expected to further renovate other floors in the building.
The top two floors of the Grand National are expected to be redeveloped; there are over 20 rooms above the pub which are expected to be converted into apartments, hotel rooms or a boarding house.
Colliers International's Miron Solomons and CBRE's Daniel Dragicevich handled the sale and Solomons said: "Given the development potential combined with the existing strong business, we received a great deal of interest in this asset from a range of buyers.
"The buyer was ultimately a private investor looking to unlock the cash flow potential from the top two floors, but we had interest from multiple buyer profiles over the five week campaign."
Pub sales outside of Sydney's lockout zones have boomed recently, with deals coming in the city's inner west and eastern suburbs.
The addition of apartments to pubs is another trend developing in Sydney. The Bourbon Hotel in the King's Cross area was sold recently to mix-use developer Sam Arnaout.
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