Mr Feros acquired the Engadine Tavern, which stands on a 1660-square-metre site in the Engadine town centre, and another 1900 square metres of adjacent retail tenancies.
The tavern generates more than $7 million in annual revenues across bar, bistro, gaming, wagering and retail liquor.
It sold with a 1am liquor licence and 26 gaming machine entitlements
Vote of confidence
HTL Property and Highland Commercial Property brokered the sale, after both pubs were listed with another agency at the end of last August but failed to secure a buyer.
“The sales campaign for the Engadine Tavern generated great interest from hoteliers interested in reinvigorating the offering through to developers, land bankers and investors,” said HTL Property director Sam Handy.
He said the sale to an experienced operator such as Feros Hotel Group was another vote of confidence in the hotel sector, particularly large-format venues.
HTL Property also sold the gaming machine entitlements out of the nearby Heathcote Hotel to a local operator.
The 7244 sq m corner site is now positioned to either be separately developed by the current owners or sold to a developer. The site could support 130 apartments under proposed development plans.
The sale of the Engadine Tavern continues a strong run of pub deals this year, after more than $2 billion of the inflation-proof assets changed hands last year.
“HTL Property has now recorded 16 pub transactions in the first 16 weeks of the year, totalling in excess of $500 million sales,” HTL Property managing director Andrew Jolliffe said.
In another big hospitality transaction, hotel-focused fund manager Salter Brothers has struck deals to acquire the Escarpment Group’s collection of luxury boutique hotels and estates in the Blue Mountains and Hunter Valley region of NSW for more than $100 million.
The portfolio includes the 89-room Lilianfels Resort & Spa and 84-room Hydro Majestic Hotel.
Salter Brothers managing director Paul Salter said the acquisitions complemented its strategy of acquiring luxury, boutique assets after purchases of a number of Spicers Retreats and Lodges from Rich Listers Graham and Jude Turner and the Milton Park Country Hotel and Spa in Bowral.