Hemmes Continues Pub Buying Spree with $15 Million Hotel Purchase

The Hotel Centennial in Woollahra has been bought by Justin Hemmes’ Merivale Group for a reported $15 million.

Located opposite Centennial Park the pub on a 780-square metre site on Oxford Street has long been popular with racegoers at Randwick and sports fans frequenting the Sydney Cricket Ground and Allianz Stadium.

It was bought by Hemmes from the Medich family with the off-market transaction handled by Andrew Jolliffe from Ray White.

The Medich family, via their Halcyon Hotels vehicle and headed by Anthony Medich, acquired the hotel in 2014 and undertook substantial renovations and broadened the clientele.

The family had previously sold other hospitality properties in the form of the Woolloomooloo Bay Hotel, The Woolwich Pier Hotel and Mosman's Buena Vista Hotel, as they exit the industry and concentrate on residential development.

[Also read: International Property Fund Buys Sydney’s Republic Hotel]Jolliffe believes that market conditions for A-Grade hospitality properties are enjoying strong favour and tightening yields.

"We've been both liberal and robust in our view over the past 24 months that the spread between cost of funding and yield for A Grade hospitality assets is well placed to contract further next year," he said.

"The fundamentals are all pointing to this outcome, and the argument supported by astute hotel investors, by virtue of deed, is illustrative of this market response.”

Hemmes and Merivale have been on a buying spree in recent months having bought the Collaroy Hotel on Sydney’s northern beaches for around $21 million, the Vic on the Park in Marrickville for around $23 million and the Royal Hotel at Bondi for over $30 million.

Merivale operates around 65 hospitality venues including the Ivy, Establishment Bar and the Coogee Pavilion.

Jolliffe recently sold the nearby Woollahra Hotel for John Ryan to Public House Management Group for $30 million.