HTL Property Announces Second Pub Sale for 2022

In the second hotel sale announced in 2022, HTL Property confirms Windsor’s well-known Fitzroy Hotel has sold in an off-market deal to a newly formed syndicate comprising prominent hoteliers Fraser Short and Todd Jacques.

The purchase of the popular hotel will add to the impressive stable of hotels being amalgamated by Fraser Short; including the Watsons Bay Hotel, Northies at Cronulla, the Mona Vale Hotel and the Sir George Hotel Jugiong – purchased late in 2021.

HTL Property’s Blake Edwards and Sam Handy negotiated the discreet off-market transaction. The hotel was only recently purchased by highly regarded local hotelier Luke Ainscough during Sydney’s first COVID-19 enforced lockdowns and restrictions.

Known in local circles as ‘Lion-heart Luke’ for his heroic deeds over the course of the Hawkesbury floods, this is Ainscough’s second pub sale over the last 12 months.

The hotel is strategically situated on a 1,391 sqm landholding in Windsor’s main commercial / retail precinct; close to a Woolworths anchored shopping centre.

It features a 3am liquor licence and 16 gaming machines attached to the licence. The hotel’s gaming performance saw it ranked #654 for the Jun-21 quarter.

The business is widely considered to demonstrate compelling upside levers for an incoming owner prepared to spend capex in the right areas.

The sale follows HTL Property’s other recent sales in Sydney’s North-West region, such as the Vineyard Hotel ($68M), Richmond Inn ($11M) Clarendon Tavern ($8.25M), Bligh Park Tavern ($11.5M), Royal Hotel ($18 million) and RG McGee’s ($6.5m).

“This is our firm’s tenth pub sale in recent times within the Hawkesbury LGA, totalling in excess of $136 million in transaction value” commented HTL Property Director, Blake Edwards.

“We’ve seen very experienced hoteliers such as Nick Wills, Dan O’Hara, Ashton Waugh and Peter Wynne all confidently invest in the area, and this quite rightly should instill confidence in other investors assessing the region’s pub investment fundamentals” Edwards added.

The Windsor and Richmond catchment areas have seen several recent land releases for residential developments, and these underpin the region’s strong population growth and demand prospects.

The Hawkesbury Region is located on the border of the North-West Priority Growth Corridor, which will see 33,000 new homes delivered in order to accommodate over 250,000 new residents. The Marsden Park development within the broader precinct will deliver 10,000 residents alone.

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