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John Azar’s Good Beer Company is taking advantage of the frothy pub market with the sale of two key hotels, the Union Hotel in North Sydney and the popular Harold in the inner city as it reweighs its portfolio.
The group in May sold the Commodore pub in McMahons Point to Glenn Piper for about $30 million. The two new sales are valued at an estimated $37 million in total.
Now widely considered one of the most resilient operating real estate asset classes in the country, pubs have been a major drawcard for hoteliers seeking to grow portfolios and investors wanting exposure to the strong underlying cashflows and trading fundamentals on offer.
The Union Hotel in North Sydney is being sold by the Good Beer Co
There has been close to $2.5 billion of pubs changing hands in the past year. The sellers range from families who want to move on, to owner/operators looking to revitalise their portfolios.
JLL hotels executive vice president Ben McDonald and senior vice president Kate MacDonald have been appointed to steer the campaign on behalf of privately held Good Beer Co which is reweighting its hotel portfolio in line with its ongoing operating strategy.
McDonald said with both assets having recently undergone significant refurbishments, the pubs offer interested parties the ability to capitalise on combined weekly revenue exceeding $142,000, over 2100 square metres of trading floorspace and 34 gaming machine entitlements.
The Union Hotel has been a stalwart in North Sydney when in 2021, after 20 years of ownership, Patrick Gallagher sold the pub to the Good Beer Co for a reported $20 million. It was previously owned by the late media personality Mike Willesee who sold it to the Gallaghers in 2002.
Located on a 784 square metre lot on the prominent corner of the Pacific Highway and West Street, the Union is an Art-Deco-style two-storey pub providing three bars, a restaurant, gaming with 21 machines, a function room and offices.
In Forest Lodge, near Glebe, the Harold, previously the Harold Park, consists of 900 square metres of trading space on a high-exposure corner, directly opposite the Harold Park residential complex by Mirvac, which houses about 500 residents.