Boutique Sydney Hotel Portfolio Hits the Block

Hotelier Jean-Claude Branch has listed a collection of four boutique hotels on Sydney’s lower north shore with price expectations for the combined accommodation assets set to eclipse $60 million.

The 142-key owner-operated hotel portfolio, which sits within the Emerald City Hotel Group, includes a series of hotels, ranging in size from 16 rooms to 70 rooms.

At the centre of the offerings is the 26-room The Albert, a five-star Victorian-era hotel that re-opened in February after a $12 million restoration of the former Telopea mansion, designed by architect Andrew Tzannes, on Cowles Road in Mosman.

The portfolio, which features heritage components across each asset, includes budget accommodation offerings of Dalziel Lodge in North Sydney and Glenferrie Lodge in Kirribilli, together with the higher positioned operations of Cremorne Point Manor.

Emerald City picked up the 1890s built Dalziel Lodge for $3.56 million in 2015 and the a 19th-century Glenferrie Lodge on the same street for $10.2 million in 2013.

CBRE Hotels director Tom Gibson, together with Raymond Tran, Vasso Zographou and Michael Simpson, are brokering the sale of the properties, either in one line or separately.

Related: Heritage Sydney CBD Backpackers Listed

Gibson said the sale campaign presents a strategic opportunity to enter the Sydney boutique accommodation market with a platform offering scale, diversification and repositioning upside.

The locations of the hotels also provide an advantage, with each property a short walk to leisure demand drivers and close to Circular Quay.

Branch, a former Merrill Lynch investment banker, pivoted to property after studying in America and forming an interest in the adaptive reuse of heritage buildings while living in San Francisco, where he renovated several Victorian houses.

The hospitality entrepreneur has since delivered a number of residential properties across Sydney including multi-units and single family homes in old heritage buildings.

Branch’s first Federation mansion conversion, the Cremorne Point manor house, was initially purchased for $3.4 million in 2006 and adapted into four-star accommodation with 29 bedrooms.

“There is something special about restoring a heritage site and breathing new life into it.

“All four hotels were a result of positive engagement with the North Shore community and a lot of blood, sweat and tears.”

The sales come as smaller hotels remain active despite the fall-off in tourism owing to the pandemic.

The accommodation sector hit rock-bottom in April when the nationwide lockdown took hold, driving down occupancy to about 20 per cent, compared with pre-Covid-19 occupancy rates well above 70 per cent.

At the height of the pandemic, city hotel revenues fell almost 70 per cent in June compared with the same month the year prior, with Sydney’s hotel occupancy dropping to 30.5 per cent.

The hotel sector has rebounded in recent months with the relaxation of some travel restrictions lifting the average hotel occupancy rate in Australia to almost 50 per cent in early October.