Glenn Piper Splashes $29m on Historic Sydney Pub

Hotelier Glenn Piper has acquired an iconic North Sydney watering hole in a $29-million deal. 

Good Beer Company has offloaded the Commodore Hotel on Blue’s Point Road in just the second metropolitan Sydney pub transaction of 2023. 

Piper said he would spend the next few months getting to know the 169-year-old pub, before looking at uplift of the asset when he received the keys in August. 

“Standing proudly on the corner of Blues Point Road, the Commodore Hotel is without a doubt one of North Sydney’s greatest pubs—and one with an incredibly rich and colourful history. 

“I am honoured to continue the Commodore’s long legacy and excited to have the opportunity to elevate it into something really special that reflects the community today.”

▲ Glenn Piper has added his first inner-city property to his portfolio after the acquisition of properties across New South Wales and Queensland in the past two years.

The Commodore has DA-approved plans to add a new gaming room, sports bar and alfresco dining. 

The acquisition is the first inner-city venue in Piper’s NSW property portfolio, which also includes the Harbord Hotel at Freshwater, Newcastle’s Beach Hotel at Merewether and the leasehold of Q Station in Sydney’s Northern Beaches. 

Further afield Piper also acquired Hook Island Lodge in Queensland’s Whitsundays, which the Meridian Australia founder plans to transform into a “world-class hospitality experience”.

JLL executive vice president Ben McDonald alongside senior vice president Kate MacDonald and managing director John Musca facilitated the off-market sale on behalf of Good Beer Company. 

“Capital continues to seek exposure to alterative assets that display strong internal rate of return characteristics and have the ability to generate strong cash flow through trading operations,” McDonald said. 

“With genuine value-add potential via the approved DA, in addition to the compelling investment drivers, The Commodore was keenly pursued by those selected to participate in the sale process.”

John Azar’s Good Beer Company acquired the property in 2019 for about $18.5 million. 

While the property itself is not 169 years old, there has been a pub on the site since 1854 when John Blue built the original two-storey sandstone watering hole and named it after his father, Billy Blue, who was invested as the Commodore by Governor Macquarie.

The original building was demolished in 1901 and replaced with a Victorian-style hotel which was subsequently demolished in the 1970s to make way for the existing structure.