HTL Property Successfully Sells The Australian

The Australian Hotel in Nowra has sold, representing another significant South-Coast New South Wales pub sale by leading agency HTL Property.

Sam Handy and Blake Edwards of specialist national pub brokerage firm HTL Property exclusively negotiated the transaction on behalf of longtime owners Michael and Kylee Dennis; together who have owned and operated the hotel since 2008.

The highly regarded couple cited their desire to exit the hotel in order to focus more time and energy on the Central Hotel in Shellharbour; which they acquired in an off-market deal in 2023 for $28 million (also transacted by HTL Property).

The large format Nowra hotel was acquired by popular Illawarra hotelier Andrew Denmeade, who has owned numerous hotels on the NSW South Coast over the course of the last two decades.

‘We’re absolutely delighted to have consummated another pub transaction for another one of our valued clients across the Illawarra, Shell Harbour and Shoalhaven regions’ suggested HTL Property Director Sam Handy.

‘Our firm has enjoyed extensive transactional experience with both the vendor and purchaser and accordingly we wish both parties every success in their respective new hotels’ Handy added.

The unrenovated Nowra hotel is prominently located upon a 2,665 sqm site within the heart of the Nowra CBD; and is one of only two pubs situated on the northern side of the Shoalhaven River.

The site enjoys favourable redevelopment planning approval and sits within a dynamic precinct adjoining an ALDI Shopping Centre: and immediately adjacent to both Coles and Woolworths.

The robust business delivers an impressive ~$6,000,000 in annual revenues across bar, bistro, gaming, wagering and retail liquor; with additional scope to reactivate the currently dormant 15 x accommodation rooms located on the first floor.

The liquor licence operates an extended hours trading approval and features 26 x gaming machines which have delivered an average NSW gaming ranking of #462 over the last 12 months.

The hotel is consistently the strongest gaming performer within the Shoalhaven LGA, and historically outperforms the nearby North Nowra Tavern; even with an unrenovated gaming room and lesser gaming machine holding.

Council records confirm that there exists both an approved DA for a new destination gaming room on the southern side of the hotel, along with another for the reconfiguration and refurbishment of the balance of the hotel footprint.

‘The hotel is currently unrenovated, underperforming and represents an incredible opportunity for Andrew and his team to activate the two DA Approvals” advised HTL Property’s Blake Edwards.

‘There are only two hotels and one big club within the Nowra CBD, and our modelling suggests that the new destination gaming room would be capable of being a consistent TOP 200 gaming performer once it is completed” Edwards added.

Pubs within the NSW South Coast region are traditionally highly sought after due to their outstanding macro investment fundamentals, and the Nowra-Bomaderry catchment is representative of this with only five hotels servicing a population of some 40,000 residents.

Further bolstering the population to pub ratio in the region will be the 425 hectare greenfield land release known as Badagarang; which was formally gazetted last year, and which will comprise approximately 3,500 new homes delivering an additional 10,000 residents to the catchment.

The sale follows several recent large format pub sales by HTL Property within the Illawarra region including the Central Hotel (Shellharbour), Unanderra Hotel (Unanderra), Five Islands Hotel (Cringila); and the North Nowra Tavern.

The agents are currently selling the nearby Greenwell Point Hotel which is in the same LGA, and advise that they’re in negotiations to transact the pub.

End.