Bull & Bush hotel and land sale in Sydney set to top $50m

DEVELOPER Dyldam has swooped on a landmark pub and an associated land parcel in Baulkham Hills in a deal likely to set a Sydney record.

The group is close to striking a deal to buy the The Bull & Bush hotel from Sydney-based Paul Irvin Hotel Group in a deal that could show a price of around $52 million.

A sale, including both the hotel and its large carpark, could top former rugby league player Steve Bowden’s sale of the Hurstville Ritz hotel for a similar sum near the height of the boom in pub values.

While Mr Bowden bought back his pub years later for around $30.5m, the deal for The Bull & Bush reflects the ongoing strength of the market for residential apartment sites in Sydney and could make publicans reassess their holdings.

The pub site spans more than 9000sq­ m and would supplement Dyldam’s purchase of a nearby former nursery. The carpark could accommodate up to 250 apartments, with the developer able to keep the hotel running as its spins off $250,000 a week, underpinned by 30 gaming machines and several bars.

Dyldam has been on the ­acquisition trail as it builds up its unit pipeline. It snapped up the former Rositano Furniture site in Merrylands, also in Sydney’s western suburbs, for just over $50m last October for a mixed-use development.

Landmark East, a company associated with Dyldam, also acquired News Corp Australia’s former Cumberland Press site in an off-market deal last April, and is now planning to build over 900 apartments there. News Corp is the publisher of The Australian.

Dyldam declined to comment yesterday but the private group is not the only one benefiting from Sydney’s apartment boom. Mirvac all but sold out its Bondi residential development, The Moreton, last weekend. Just a handful of one-bedroom units remain in the 190-apartment project. The Australian revealed Mirvac bought the site in December 2013.

Source:  The Australian - 10th March 2015