Exchange Hotel is on the auction block
With investors now looking for bricks and mortar assets that will generate a higher yield than shares or low interest bank accounts, development sites including hotels are now being offered around town.
The latest is the Exchange Hotel in Balmain.
The Exchange Hotel is one of Balmain’s most well-known landmarks.
The pub is located at 94 Beattie Street and it is positioned on a prominent 680 square metre corner site.
It has also over the years benefitted from a central position in Balmain’s dining and pub precinct.
Built in 1885, the pub has heritage listing and comprises the Beattie Bar, bistro, balcony bar and new cafe and bar Oliver's Corner, not to mention function rooms.
It’s now being put up for sale by a private syndicate and the freehold site has the potential for many uses including residential, all of course subject to council approval.
The multi-level hotel is good for mixed-use zoning so it offers opportunities for mixed-use conversion. Its large layout could potentially generate multiple revenue streams.
It is being marketed by Colliers International’s Miron Solomons and Vince Kernahan. They have noted the rarity of “undercapitalised value-add opportunities” in A-grade precincts such as Balmain.
The sale is expected to attract owner-occupiers, value-add specialists and hungry investors.
The Exchange is likely to draw a lot of interest with the Baird government’s compulsory acquisitions of assets in the CBD creating supply and demand pressures for investors and forcing them to look at the suburbs.
Ms Solomons says there are few freehold assets like the Balmain available in Balmain.
"We expect to receive strong interest from owner-occupiers, investors and value-add specialists alike," Mr Solomon told the Sydney Morning Herald.
"Freehold properties in Sydney's tightly-held inner west and peninsula suburbs are in huge demand from creative businesses looking to strategically position themselves outside the CBD."
by Leon Gettler, July 12th 2016
