Ashmont Inn Listed For Sale After Nearly 50 Years of Private Ownership

The Ashmont Inn Hotel in Wagga Wagga has been listed for sale, delivering what is expected to be one of the most heavily anticipated and keenly contested regional New South Wales pub opportunities for 2025.

HTL Property’s Blake Edwards, Sam Handy and Paddy Dalton have been exclusively appointed to steer the campaign, which has been timed in order to capitalise upon the current market conditions driven in part by Sydney hoteliers looking to powerhouse regional centres such as Wagga Wagga for acquisition opportunities.

The stabilising of yields and diminishing availability of Metropolitan pub stock has seen Sydney buyers scouring regional New South Wales for hotels in busier locations, boasting larger footprints and often offering better value and upside; with Wagga Wagga, amongst others, proving particularly popular with hoteliers given the city’s large population of 70,000, supporting infrastructure (airport, hospital and university – including agriculture, defence, mining and manufacturing.

The Ashmont Inn Hotel has been owned and operated under management by the Mathot family for a period of 47 years.

Having constructed the premises in 1978, the hotel has only ever been owned by the one family, with the business having been run under management by local hotelier Andrew Behnke – who has previously owned and operated the nearby Turvey Park Hotel in Mount Austin. The ownership syndicate has received multiple recent unsolicited approaches to acquire the hotel, leading the group to now electing to formally market the hotel for sale with leading agency HTL Property exclusively.

The business generates ~$5,000,000 in annual revenues across bar, bistro, gaming, wagering and retail liquor. It is licensed to trade until 12:00 midnight and has 20 x gaming machines attached to the licence. The nearest gaming competitors include the Turvey Park Hotel (#218), Kooringal Hotel (#294) and the Tolland Hotel (#581). There exists an DA Approval in place for a new outdoor beer garden and children’s playground, which extends into the existing car park. The beer garden includes perimeter fencing, a lawn area, cabanas with an operable roof for alfresco seating, in addition to a small deck for live music.

The hotel sits on a 4,995 sqm site situated within the Ashmont Mall precinct, in the south-western suburb of Wagga Wagga. The hotel services a large and exclusive catchment bounded by the Sturt Highway, and the railway line; comprising both the Ashmont residential catchment and Wagga Wagga trade industrial precinct.

“We anticipate that there will be a mixture of local interest, buyers from some of the larger surrounding regional centres and most definitely from Sydney. Unequivocally, this regional hotel enjoys attributes and a level of upside the market will gravitate towards”  Dalton advised.

HTL Property have been particularly active within the Riverina region; having transacted the Victoria Hotel ($29M), Thomas Blamey Tavern ($25m), the Sportsman Hotel ($6M) and the Red Steer Hotel ($5.6M) in recent years.

The Ashmont Inn Hotel is being sold via a national on-market campaign with an Expression of Interest sale process scheduled to close at 12.00pm on Thursday 18 September 2024 (if not sold prior).

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