The hotel in Parkes is on more than 3000 square metres of land. Photo: Supplied

Hotel Gracelands in Parkes, birthplace of the town's Elvis Festival, set for a new owner

Alison Cheung|Apr 17, 2019

A hotel in the NSW town of Parkes, where the town’s Elvis Festival began, has sold for $2.38 million at auction on Tuesday.

Hotel Gracelands, at 7-9 Bushman Street, has a 30-year lease to the hotel operator that began four years ago, with options until 2064. The tenant is paying more than $190,000 plus GST in rents.

Burgess Rawson selling agent Dean Venturato, who had the listing with Sam Horwitz, said such a long-term commitment from the tenant was “really, really rare”.

Hotel Gracelands has a restaurant and wine bar. Photo: Supplied

“Often we’ll see a 10 or a 15-year lease and they are pretty good, but to have a 30-year lease, plus options, is extremely rare,” he said.

“I’ve been in property for close to 40 years, I could count on one hand leases that I’ve seen that are longer than 20 years, and this would be one of them.”

The 3726-square-metre site includes accommodation, a restaurant and a wine bar.

The idea for the Parkes Elvis Festival started in the building – then known as Gracelands Restaurant – during an Elvis-themed party in 1992, and the first festival was held the following year. The event attracted 26,500 people in 2018.

The property was refurbished extensively in 2014 and had development approval for a 30-room extension, which has now lapsed.

“With country councils, it’s easier to resurrect a DA, they are far more pro-development and business-minded than Sydney or capital city councils. They want development, they want growth, expansion and employment,” Mr Venturato said.

“Parkes has the benefit of a good population based there, there’s agriculture, there’s mining, there’s tourism, education, health services.”

There are 20 rooms in the hotel. Photo: Supplied