Hotel & HospitalityClare BurnettThu 09 Mar 23
Grand Hotel Bundaberg Comes to Market
The Grand Hotel Bundaberg in the Queensland sugar city’s CBD is up for sale amid growing interest in hotels after a bumper year in 2022.
The 138-year-old watering hole is listed for sale by the mortgagee in possession. The freehold going concern interest was sold for about $4 million last year by the mortgagee, High Country Pastoral Pty Ltd.
CBRE Hotel’s Paul Fraser and Power Jeffrey & Co’s Andy Nason have been appointed to manage the sale via an expression of interest campaign closing on April 12.
There are seven retail tenancies on the ground floor over 534sq m of space, and a 27-room backpacker-style accommodation offering 90 beds on the first floor.
The hotel was built in 1885 and underwent a major $1 million refurbishment in 2021.
Markets in Bundaberg, like many in Queensland outside the south-east corner, have managed to stay relatively robust.
As a “key regional hub”, Bundaberg has a gross regional product of more than $4.5 billion and a population that is set to quickly grow past 100,000.
“We expect this campaign to generate interest from traditional hospitality operators, developers and long-term passive investors,” Fraser said.
“The Grand Hotel provides an incoming buyer with the option to either operate the pub and backpackers as a going concern or to have leases put in place in addition to the vacant retail tenancies, essentially becoming a passive investment.”
The sale comes following the news last week that Australian hotel sales had hit $2.14 billion in 2022, the second highest transaction volume on record.
Last year, a record number of 53 transactions were valued at over $10 million, 39 per cent above the 10-year average.
