The Australian Hotel Nowra for sale in what is anticipated to deliver one of the south-coast region's most keenly contested sale campaigns.

Leading national pub brokerage agency, HTL Property, has been appointed to sell the hotel with agents Sam Handy, Dan Dragicevich and Blake Edwards steering the sale campaign.

The unrenovated hotel is prominently located upon a 2,665 sqm site within the heart of the Nowra CBD; and is one of only two pubs situated on the northern side of the Shoalhaven River. The site enjoys favourable redevelopment planning approval, and sits within a dynamic precinct adjoining an ALDI Shopping Centre: and immediately adjacent to both Coles and Woolworths.

The business delivers an impressive ~$6,000,000 in annual revenues across bar, bistro, gaming, wagering and retail liquor; with additional scope to reactivate the currently dormant 15 x accommodation rooms located on the first floor said the HTL Proprty Agents. 

The liquor licence operates an extended hours trading approval and features 26 x gaming machines which have delivered an average NSW gaming ranking of #465 over the last 12 months.

The Australian Hotel is consistently the strongest gaming performer within the Shoalhaven LGA, and historically outperforms the nearby North Nowra Tavern; even with an unrenovated gaming room and lesser gaming machine holding.

'It is very rare indeed to come across an unrenovated hotel that is already performing so strongly across a number of revenue departments' suggested HTL Property Director, Sam Handy

'The upside and the ability to rapidly build value into this asset is patently clear with the activation of the approved destination gaming room" Handy added.

The hotel has been owned and operated by Michael and Kylie Dennis for around sixteen years, having purchased the freehold back in 2008.

They couple cite the recent approval of two development applications by Shoalhaven Council as the rationale behind the sale, along with their desire to consolidate their business interests closer to their home in Shellharbour.

Council records confirm that there exists both an approved DA for a new destination gaming room on the southern side of the hotel, along with another for the reconfiguration and refurbishment of the remainder of the hotel, added the HTL Property agents. 

'The hotel is currently unrenovated, underperforming and represents an incredible opportunity for an incoming operator with the time and energy to activate both of the approved DA's over a period 3-5 years", suggested owner, Michael Dennis.

'There are only two hotels and one big club within the Nowra CBD, and our modelling suggests that the new destination gaming room would be capable of being a consistent TOP 200 gaming performer once it is completed" Dennis added.

Pubs within the NSW South Coast region are traditionally highly sought after due to their outstanding macro investment fundamentals, and the Nowra-Bomaderry catchment is representative of this with only five hotels servicing a population of some 40,000 residents.

Further bolstering the population to pub ratio in the region will be the 425 hectare greenfield land release known as Badagarang; which was formally gazetted last year and which will comprise approximately 3,500 new homes delivering an additional 10,000 residents to the catchment.

'In terms of pubs across both coastal and regional New South Wales, Nowra has some of the best macro investment fundamentals driven by an inherent high population to pub ratio, excellent demographics, and legislative hurdles creating high barriers to entry overlaid with an exceptional population growth forecast", concluded HTL Property's National Director, Dan Dragicevich

The sale campaign follows several recent large format pub sales within the Illawarra region including the Central Hotel (Shellharbour), Unanderra Hotel (Unanderra), Five Islands Hotel (Cringila); and the North Nowra Tavern (Nowra).

The Australian Hotel is being offered for sale via Expression of Interest closing Thursday 14 March 2024 (if not sold prior).

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