Eponymous Strathfield Hotel Sold by HTL after 102 Years of Ownership

Following the specialist firm’s announcement this week of the record North Coast sale in the form of the Port Macquarie Hotel, leading brokerage agency HTL Property today confirms the sale of the eponymous Strathfield Hotel.

Owned continuously by the Whelan family for in excess of 100 years, the iconic and multi-storey property which prominently adorns a corner site adjacent the busy Strathfield train station, has been acquired by Sam Arnaout’s Iris Capital juggernaut.

“We are particularly excited about this purchase given not only the privilege to take stewardship from the highly regarded Whelan family after 100 years of ownership, but also because my own family share such an affinity with the hotel and area” commented successful Purchaser, Sam Arnaout.

The sale of the Strathfield Hotel was conducted via an off-market process, soliciting interest from a wide variety of both institutional and private investor groups.

“We said it was a thrill to be entrusted with such a timeless community asset at the point of being awarded our exclusive engagement, and reconfirm our great pleasure in delivering upon our objective to sell our client’s cherished hotel property after what is on any measure an extraordinary time at the helm” advised HTL Property Managing Director, Andrew Jolliffe.

“Generations of the Whelan family have thoroughly enjoyed their time associated with this grand hotel, and it is with our best wishes to Sam and his family that we collectively pass the baton for the beginning of his prosperous journey” commented Vendor representative, Brian Whelan.

“After such a long association, all family members are today thinking about the generations of Whelans who worked both in and around the hotel with fond sentiment” Whelan added. “However equally, of the many parties who sought to acquire the hotel, we could not be more comforted than by Sam’s purchase; as he is frankly the best placed to ensure the hotel’s maximisation and longevity as a landmark upon the Strathfield landscape is maintained” Whelan concluded.

The three storey hotel promotes multiple bar, restaurant, gaming and accommodation areas over a 2000sqm footprint; and separately enjoys Development Approval for 60 units to be built at the rear of the property.

“We often see market interest piqued for generational hospitality assets which also contain the optionality for further enhancement; such as substantial residential development levers or other alternative uses” advised HTL Property National Director, Dan Dragicervich.

“Hence there was considerable market attraction to an asset which embodied practically all the fundamentals so readily sought by astute asset class participants” Dragicevich concluded.

HTL Property refrained from disclosing the sale price achieved, other than to confirm market guidance had again been met.

The sale of the Strathfield Hotel continues the strong transaction landscape along Australia’s East Coast in relation to the market appetite for A grade hospitality assets. In 2021, NSW saw a record one hundred hotels transact at almost two hotels sold per week; and at the midpoint in 2022, the industry has already facilitated 54 hotel sales at a consolidated $1.05bn in NSW alone.

“Including the Strathfield Hotel, HTL is proud to have facilitated $718m of the $1bn worth of hotel sales in NSW in the six months to 30 June 2022; however the more salient point, is that as a result of this asset class strength the national industry is tracking materially ahead of the record $2bn in consolidated sales conducted last year” Jolliffe concluded.

End.