Newcastle pub Hotel Delany listed by hotelier Hird family
Staff reporterDecember 7, 2020
Hotel Delany, one of Newcastle’s trophy hotels, has been listed for sale amid a surge of interest in pub investment opportunities.
The hotel at 134 Darby Street is positioned between the redeveloping Newcastle City Centre and the $750 million East End project.
It sits on a 1,684 sqm retail site with future redevelopment potential and also includes a valuable late trading hotel licence and 22 PME’s.
The hotel is being marketed by CBRE Hotels’ Ben McDonald and Daniel Dragicevich along with Deane Moore of Moore & Moore Real Estate.
“The Hotel Delany has long been one of the most asked about pubs in Newcastle and we have no doubt there will be significant interest from hoteliers around the state – particularly from Novocastrian operators but also from mixed use developers and commercial property investors,” CBRE's McDonald said.
Hotelier Gary Hird and his son, Anthony, are selling the iconic pub. It marks the end of an era for the Hird family, who have spent nearly two decades at the helm of the Cooks Hill operation, the Newcastle Herald added. The Hird family bankrolled the renovation of the pub in 2009, at an estimated cost of up to $6 million.
The pub gets its name from Newcastle businessman Victor R. Delany, who commissioned the design of the original building in 1924.
“The venue holds a special place in the hearts and minds of all locals and even though the Hirds have steered it well during their tenure I look forward to what new lease of life the next operator can breathe into the operation,” added Moore & Moore Real Estate’s Deane Moore.
There has been a surge of interest in larger scale hotels in Newcastle in recent times with the Prince of Wales at Merewether, Duke of Wellington at New Lambton, The Exchange Hotel in Hamilton and Nags Heads at Adamstown all transacting over the past 12 months at sale yields normally reserved for Sydney metro hotels, said McDonald.
McDonald said this exemplified the interest, not just in the local pub sector, but in Newcastle’s commercial property market in general.
