This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THE Airlie Beach Hotel has hit the market for the first time in more than 30 years.
The hotel is within the Airlie Beach CBD, on a waterfront site of 8,819sqm with three major street frontages and views out to the Whitsunday Islands.
It comprises 80 accommodation rooms, conferencing, commercial car park, restaurant, pub, retail liquor, 35 gaming machines and a retail component with the first lease expiring in 2022.
CBRE’s Wayne Bunz, Paul Fraser and Hayley Manvell are offering the property in conjunction with PRD Nationwide Airlie Beach agent Christie Leet, on behalf of vendors the O’Neill family, via expressions of interest closing May 4th.
Bunz said the hotel had been well maintained by the family, with constant capital expenditure totaling around $3.5 million over the past five years.
He said the sale offeredprospective purchasers a strong cash flow business and underlying value given the size of the land holding, with the ability to substantially increase the property’s EBITDA.
“An incoming purchaser could immediately elevate returns through optimising venue operations and reducing overheads,” he said.
Manvell said there is also scope for additional accommodation rooms to be added by utilising the main infrastructure already in place, with the possibility of staging the works so that holding income continues during construction, as well as the potential to redevelop additional land adjoining the site, currently utilised as a car park.
She also said that owner operated hotel could present rebranding opportunities, particularly given the lack of major international hotel brands in the region, and an incoming owner could also strata-title the complex into different components and sell them down individually.
Leet said the property is one of the most strategic land holdings on the Whitsunday coast, with sites of this size unable to be replicated on Airlie Beach’s Main Street, where over 60% of properties are already strata titled.
“It is being offered at a time when the region’s tourism sector is the strongest it has ever been, with an additional 110,000 airline seats to Airlie Beach this quarter on the back of being recognised as Australia’s fastest growing regional airport,” he said.
STR research shows the Whitsundays’ saw growth in RevPAR 13.2% in the 12 months to December 2016, of 6.1% in market occupancy to 83.8%, and of 7.1% in room rates to $423.60.
Australian Property Journal
