PERTH developer George Atzemis and pharmacist Constantine Berbatis have bought the Holiday Inn hotel for $44 million, from Eureka Funds Management.
CBRE Hotels negotiated the sale to the private syndicate and this is first major hotel transaction in the Perth CBD since the 2007 sale of the Citigate hotel for $52 million.
The sale – which was struck at a price in excess of $240,000 per room – represents one of the biggest private investor deals in Western Australia for 2009.
CBRE Hotels director David Kennedy said the Holiday Inn was the best located hotel in Perth being ideally situated in Hay St, approximately 200 metres west of the Hay Street Mall, department stores, major administration offices on St Georges Terrace and the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The hotel is managed by the worldwide IHG group, which has retained the management rights until 2020 under the terms of the sale agreement. The 4.5 star, 181-room Holiday Inn was sold by Eureka as part of its hotel portfolio rationalisation strategy.
Kennedy said the hotel has traded extremely well, with actual trading consistently exceeding forecast trading throughout 2009.
“Year-to-date, occupancy has exceeded 90% due to the high demand for rooms and lack of new supply coming onto the market, combined with the attributes of the hotel itself and the astute management of IHG,” he added.
Atzemis and Berbatis are long established property investors in Perth, operating pharmacies and developed four medical centres during the 1970s and later in the late 1990s the pair began buying and redevelopment shopping centres.
The Berbatis family separately owns three smaller accommodation premises in Perth and a fourth in Margaret River with the Atzemis family.
The families intend to upgrade the Holiday Inn, with a particular emphasis on the ground floor and hotel entry.
Australian Property Journal
