Laundy Family Stakes Sydney Hotel Purchase

The slew of significant hotel sales continues this week with the announcement that the highly regarded Laundy family have teamed up with some new operators, including Aaron Crinis, in order to buy Redfern’s famed Woolpack Hotel.

With the sale process exclusively managed by leading agents Dan Dragicevich, Sam Handy and Andrew Jolliffe of boutique firm HTL Property, the inner-city freehold hotel was put to market via a public EOI campaign which extracted multiple offers from local and interstate buyers.

“Like O’Malley’s, the Hollywood and Strand hotels respectively, this multi-level city fringe freehold attracted huge footfall in terms of interest; the consequence of which resulted in a handful of selected parties battling it out for the prize at the end of the process” advised HTL Property Director, Sam Handy.

Vendors for the sale of the Woolpack Hotel, Geordie Clark and James Henty, had owned and operated the popular hospitality property for 12 years before electing to sell.

“I’ve been impressed with the deal making HTL have been responsible for in the marketplace recently, and following the clinical execution of their on-market strategy for our asset, my opinion hasn’t changed” advised Vendor, Geordie Clark.

With multiple levels, a prominent street frontage and a broad range of revenue centres, which all enjoy a strong local following; the hotel has been a community magnet of sorts for the renowned and eclectic suburb.

“We have more than enjoyed our time at the helm of this exciting business, and in doing so have witnessed Redfern’s growth as a compelling Sydney suburb in which to operate a significant business” added Joint-Vendor Henty.

Having most recently purchased a handful of regional assets, including the record sale for a hotel in Albury in the form of the Springvale Heights Tavern at $22m, the Laundy family focus has most recently returned to Sydney.

“We’re always looking for opportunities to buy unique hotel assets and to partner with good operators who, in concert with what we have learned during our time in the industry, can combine with us to extract whatever upside might be inherent and available” commented Purchaser Arthur Laundy.

The sale of the Woolpack Hotel in Redfern is HTL Property’s 7th sale in the past week, and speaks to the robust nature of both the asset class and its key participants.

“As a specialist firm, we’re committed to playing a role within a very fertile national transaction landscape that rewards affirmative action” advised HTL Property Managing Director, Andrew Jolliffe.

“Notwithstanding having already curated the sale of $150m worth of assets only two weeks into this Financial Year, our submission is that there exists an abundance of very determined hospitality-indexed property intenders wrestling with unsatisfied capital deployment objectives” concluded HTL Property National Director, Dan Dragicevich.

Whilst not disclosing the successful sale price, HTL Property confirmed the price paid was consistent with market guidance provided by the agency throughout the sale campaign.

End.