On your Marque"¦ GHG hotels off the block

THE new owners of the Grand Hotel Group, Morgan Stanley and Tuan Sing Holdings, have put three Marque hotel properties on the market.

Exclusive agents Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels are marketing The Marque Hotel Brisbane, The Marque Hotel Sydney and The Marque Hotel Canberra totalling 290-rooms.

JLL Hotels’ executive vice president Mark Durran said the three Marque hotels were no longer a strategic fit with GHG’s five star hotel business model and the new board of GHG have approved the sale.

Durran said the sale of the portfolio comes as room yields around Australia reach record levels, boosted by strong occupancies.

“This is a very rare opportunity for an investor to acquire a portfolio of quality hotels in three major Australian capital cities all showing clear signs of continued improvement.

“The high barriers to entry and growth potential in hotel trading performance are likely to attract significant interest in the 113 room Marque Hotel Sydney,” Durran said.

The Marque Hotel Sydney is situated opposite Sydney’s Central Railway Station and enjoys three street frontages.

Vice president Marcello Jimenez said in regards to hotel trading performance, Sydney has improved significantly and with occupancies expected to remain high on the back of consistent demand growth.

“Rendezvous has an opportunity to push room rates higher post refurbishment which will flow through to the incoming investor in turnover rent,” he added.

The Marque Hotel Brisbane is a 16 level, 99 room hotel located in the heart of the CBD.

Duran said Brisbane is one of Australia’s best performing hotel investment markets and our research indicates that occupancies should stay high at around 78-80% and ADR growth will remain strong.

The Marque Hotel Canberra is situated on a 6,270 sqm Crown leasehold site on the prominent Northbourne Avenue.

Canberra’s hotel market is currently the second best performing market in Australia with room yield growth of 19.7% during the March quarter 2007, the 78 room low rise hotel also shows substantial residential development potential.

Durran and Jimenez said interest will come from both national and international investors, REITs, property syndicates and fund managers.

GHG currently has approximately $650 million of assets, including four hotels under management agreements with Hyatt International. In March this year, Morgan Stanley and TSA successful took over GHG and subsequently delisted it from the ASX.

Australian Property Journal