Former O’Sullivan’s Hotel in Essendon sold for more than $3 million
The former O’Sullivan’s Hotel in Melbourne’s Essendon, has exceeded expectations and sold for more than $3 million.
The purchasers of the property at 914 Mount Alexander Road, Essendon, the Le family, live locally in the inner Melbourne suburb.
Despite community fears that the 130-year-old, 353-square-metre site would be developed into dwellings, the family, headed by Thomas Le, plan to continue running the property as a hospitality venue.
Seller Veronica O’Sullivan, whose family has owned the building for 21 years, is grateful that the Le family will maintain the building’s role as a hospitality spot for the community, instead of developing.
“There’s just a lot of high-rise development going up in Essendon. We’ve got 30-storey, 18-storey — you name it.”
The Le family plans to continue running it as an Asian-inspired bar and restaurant, Ginger Annie, for the time being, said Will Connolly, selling agent from CBRE. “But they may make a few changes in the long term.”
The new owners are “unexpected buyers”, Mr Connolly said, as they are not “your usual pub buyer”. Most of the interest for the building came from owner-operators and investors.
While the Le family does own other commercial properties and has “hospitality experience”, the Essendon property “is their first foray into a pub or hotel”, said Mr Connolly.
While the O’Sullivans and the agents declined to reveal the exact final price of the historic site, Mr Connolly said it matched the guiding price given in the campaign.
“We were quoting offers over $3 million, and we achieved that price point.”
“I’d like to sing from the rooftops and say how much I sell everything for,” said Mr Connolly, adding that it is typical for the final sale price to be kept private for hospitality venues.
Veronica O’ Sullivan has mixed feelings about the sale. “I’m happy with the sale and a bit sad, too. It’s the end of an era for our family; it’s been 21 years. It’s like a child. You know every brick, every pipe, every customer that’s been in and out over the years.”
The building was originally built in 1888 and operated as a butcher for some time—owned by Andrew Swan, a two-time mayor of Essendon. The property’s next incantation was as a hardware store until 1998 when the O’Sullivan family purchased it and transformed it into the Irish-themed O’Sullivan’s Hotel. In 2015, the building was reimagined as Ginger Annie.
