The 150-year-old Commodore Hotel in Sydney has hit the market at a time when investors are seeking top-tier freehold hotels in and around the suburbs.
The hotel is owned and operated by Lantern Hotel Group, and is being sold as part of its review of non-core assets. John Osborne, the group’s CEO, said that the program for the divestment of non-core hotels was nearing completion.
Other non-core assets Lantern has sold include the Dolphin in Surry Hills, Lawson Park, the Bowral, and the Exchange in NSW and the Courthouse and GPO in Queensland. "When all contracted sales are finalized, Lantern will have realized about $43 million at a premium to book value of about 14 percent," Osborne told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Andrew Jolliffe, Asia Pacific director at Ray White Hotels, is advising on the sale of the Commodore. Jolliffe recently sold the Colombian Hotel on Surry Hill's Oxford Street.
Jolliffe said the “weight” of domestic and international capital looking for yield-based property investment avenues was a “compelling factor” for the sales of the hotels.
"Recent campaigns we have run such as those for the Colombian Hotel and Dolphin Hotels respectively, have attracted significant interest from local investors, as well as offshore hospitality funds looking to deploy capital in a stable economic and political environment such as that enjoyed by Sydney," he told the Herald.