Rich-lister hoteliers the Roche Group have opted to divest their stately Royal Hotel at Armidale to focus on massive projects closer to home.
The striking, two-storey Art Deco brick pub occupies a large 1,836sqm site, with over 86 metres of frontage across Beardy and Marsh Streets.
Keeping a desirable late-trading 3am licence, it includes a public bar and sports bar with TAB, gaming room with 16 machines ((Band 2), commercial kitchen and large bistro with seating for over 100 patrons, 18 accommodation rooms and a three-bedroom manager’s residence, plus a freestanding bottleshop.
The Roche family, aka DB Pubs, bought the freehold going concern mid-2021 as part of their expansion into the sector, having diversified into property and become significant developers in Queensland and NSW.
Major projects include the very large-format under-construction Cameron Park housing estate in west Newcastle, covering over 300-ha, with a brand-new greenfield pub, due to open later this year.
Armidale is a city of around 30k people, inland from Coffs Harbour, possessing a strong agricultural economy and education base, boasting multiple state and exclusive schools and the University of New England.
DB Pubs had plans for a significant capital works program at the Royal, and acquired six additional gaming entitlements ahead of a major upgrade and refresh of the gaming offering.
But drawn back to their strong and growing presence in the Hunter, the private family recently sold its Harrigan’s Irish pub at Harrington, and has similarly decided to pass on the Royal to focus on core assets closer to headquarters.
The New England region is proving a desirable regional market for hoteliers, seeing dozens of assets change hands in the past few years.
Despite still needing its facelift, marketing literature on the Royal reports strong underlying revenue performance through diversified departments, and realisable upside. A potential buyer could further benefit from scale in the precinct with the Wicklow Hotel, which is also on the market.
It is being marketed by HTL Property’s Xavier Plunkett, Blake Edwards and Andrew Jolliffe, and likely to see offers over $12 million.
“The well-rounded business is producing circa $70k in weekly revenues, spread across all departments,” reports Plunkett.
“There exists significant scope for further revenue improvement, with a more hands-on management approach.”
