The Grand Saddles Lodge.
Entrepreneur John Singleton’s long-awaited boutique accommodation house, The Grand Saddles Lodge on the NSW Central Coast, will open this spring with villas priced from $1900 a night.
The project, first mooted back in 2021, encompasses 20 private villas along with fine dining, a piano bar and day spa, all set opposite Mr Singleton’s restaurant The Homestead at Saddles, Mount White, around 45 minutes drive from the Sydney CBD.
Businessman John Singleton. Picture: Dylan Coker
Each villa has separate living spaces, an open fireplace, private terrace and plunge pool, while a communal infinity pool and pool bar overlook the surrounding bushland.
Further north, the Merewether Surfhouse in Newcastle, north of Sydney, has just been put on the market for the first time since its construction in 2011. The property is owned by Morris and Tony Green, John Tierney and Mark Swadling. No price tag has been put on the Merewether Surfhouse but similar properties have sold for around $25m.
Marketing agents HTL Property’s Andrew Jolliffe and Dan Dragicevich said local confidence in Newcastle’s economy was underpinned by Iris Capital’s recent $240m mixed hospitality asset sale to the Moelis Australia backed, Redcape Hospitality.
HTL are running an international expressions of interest campaign for the property fronting Merewether Beach.
The property is located on a 2277sq m trading footprint spread across three levels with a beach bar, kiosk, and restaurant along with multiple outdoor areas. Mr Jolliffe said the property was impeccably constructed with uninterrupted views of the most stunning coastline.
“This is undeniably one of those assets on Australia’s picturesque shoreline that commands attention on the rare occasion it becomes available to acquire,” he said, adding that Newcastle is geographically a highly sought-after investment centre given its proximity to Sydney, the Hunter Valley, international flights from its airport, world class higher and tertiary education facilities and its favourable lifestyle. Expressions of interest close on August 20.
The Grand Saddles Lodge by John Singleton.
Meanwhile in Sydney, the cashed-up NRL is looking to make its largest asset purchase to date with the up to $100m acquisition of the Novotel Sydney International Airport hotel.
The 271-room property was listed for sale in May with the marketing agents, CBRE, billing it as an “opportunity for investors to acquire an institutional-grade hotel in Australia’s most tightly held and supply-constrained market”.
CBRE declined to comment.
The NRL’s wealth strategy is aimed at amassing $1bn worth of assets, with the code understood to be in due diligence to acquire the Novotel property fronting 22 Levey Street, Wolli Creek, around 1km from Sydney International Airport.
The Australian Rugby League Commission’s decision to diversify its property strategy is about securing stable income and future-proofing the code after it almost went broke during the Covid-19 pandemic. It is unclear how it would fund the purchase of the Sydney Airport hotel but it is currently in due diligence.
All up, the NRL has purchased nearly $100m worth of real estate in the past four years, including the Quest Hotel in Sydney’s Woolooware Bay and the Beetson Hotel in Brisbane. It has also purchased at least four hotels managed by the French hotel giant Accor, including the Mercure Sunshine Coast Kawana Waters, which it purchased for $24m two years ago, Mantra Terrace Brisbane, and in Port Macquarie the Ibis Styles.
The Novotel Sydney International Airport facilities include The Marke Kitchen, The Marke Bar, a gym, outdoor swimming pool, crew lounge, 129 car parks and 11 meeting and conference spaces, providing a compelling platform to capture a diverse mix of airport-related demand.