Grove family buy back Indian Ocean Hotel in WA's Scarborough

Hoteliers the Grove family have bought back The Indian Ocean Hotel in Western Australia’s Scarborough from the receivers, shortly after it was put up for sale.

The family acquired it for an undisclosed sum, but it had been offered for about $18 million on a 7 percent yield when first put on the market more than a year ago, according to a report in The Australian Financial Review. 

The 59-room, 3.5-star hotel on Hastings Street in the city's north-western suburbs was being marketed by CBRE Hotels’ Ryan McGinnity and David Kennedy under instruction from the receivers and managers appointed, HLB Mann Judd (Insolvency WA). 

The marketing campaign closed on May 12.

The five-level, 59-room hotel includes Indi Bar and Bistro, and has hosted some of Perth’s best live music over the past two decades, including Rolling Stones, The Waifs, John Butler and Dave Hole.  

The hotel, built in 1972, was placed in the hands of receivers in April after the death of majority owner Bill Grove, said the AFR report. 

It was originally called the White Sands Hotel. The Grove family took over as managers in 1985 and renamed it the Indian Ocean Hotel in 1990.

Hotel owner Andrew Grove and CBRE’s selling agents declined comment to the AFR, but the paper cited a source close to the family as saying that "The property and business is now back in the hands of the family who have owned the property for over 30 years” and they are “excited to be in control of the business and property again”.

Located within the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authorities’ $57.4 million Scarborough Redevelopment Area, the Indian Ocean Hotel offers potential for future development, with a residential 160 zoning and additional special use as hotel.