Hotelier Bill Young has bought the Epping Hotel in north west Sydney.
Former Wallaby star Bill Young has forked out $50m for the Epping Hotel in Sydney’s north west keen to cash in on the property’s long term development opportunities and gaming growth.
The deal quickly follows the Ryan family’s purchase of a similar, older style pub, in the wealthy Sydney suburb of Double Bay for $100m three week’s ago.
Mr Young, who was forced to retire due to injury in 2006, will add the property to his existing portfolio including the Concord Hotel, Royal Hotel Ryde, Five Dock Hotel, Palace Hotel Mortlake, Illinois Hotel, Bar Broadway in Sydney’s CBD, and the Gem Hotel in the regional NSW town of Griffith.
Almost a century old, The Epping Hotel was purchased from property developer Lyon Group, which bought the pub – which has 27 poker machines and a TAB – back in 2018.
Occupying a 1350sq m site opposite Epping Station, the pub’s average weekly revenue exceeds $234,000, or more than $12.1m across its pokies, bar, bottle shop and food operations.
Mr Young said he sees the Epping Hotel as one of the most strategically positioned hotel assets in metropolitan Sydney. “The venue benefits from outstanding transport connectivity, a rapidly growing catchment and a strong existing trading platform.”
According to the marketing agents JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group’s Ben McDonald and Gus Moors, the pub attracted broad investor interest which they said reflected demand for metropolitan hotels with strong real estate fundamentals and diversified earnings.
Positioned between Parramatta CBD, Macquarie Park, and the Sydney CBD, Epping’s population is forecast to grow by around 31 per cent over the next decade.
Mr McDonald claimed the sale reflected the depth of demand for quality metropolitan hotel assets with both scale and operational upside.
Hotelier Bill Young has bought the Epping Hotel for $50m.
“The level of engagement throughout the campaign was outstanding and reinforced the strength of investor appetite for strategically located Sydney hotel assets with genuine value-add potential,” said Mr McDonald, adding the hotel has strong existing cashflow, gaming growth and long term development opportunities.
“The breadth and quality of buyer participation was among the strongest we have seen for a metropolitan campaign in recent years.”