Iris Capital snaps up Darlinghurst's Gaslight Inn for $6m
Larry Schlesinger and Su-Lin Tan
Sam Arnaout’s Iris Capital has added to its fast-expanding Sydney pub portfolio with the acquisition of Darlinghurst’s Gaslight Inn for about $6 million.
The multi-level pub at 278 Crown Street, just off Oxford Street, was offloaded by publican Stuart Browne in an off-market deal negotiated by Ray White Hotel’s Andrew Jolliffe, and Gerry Quinlan of Manenti Quinlan and Associates.
Iris Capital recently acquired Oxford Street establishment the Colombian Hotel in October for $18 million and followed that up by buying the Hungerford Hill boutique winery and vineyard in the Hunter Valley for more than $6 million.
Wearing its development hat, Iris Capital recently acquired a four-block city site in Newcastle for $39 million with plans for a huge mixed-used project.
Mr Jolliffe, who last week sold the Tennyson Hotel to Sydney pub tsar Justin Hemmes for an auction record of $37.05 million, said the sale of the freehold Gaslight Inn – the 14th pub sold in the inner-eastern suburbs by Ray White in recent years – underlined the strength of A-grade pub property.
“The Sydney pub market is on fire at the moment,” he said.
The Sydney pub market could end the year with a bang with high-profile businessmen John Singleton and Geoff Dixon offering the Marlborough Hotel in Newtown, in Sydney’s inner west, and Kinselas Hotel in Darlinghurst for sale, both through Ray White Hotels.
Former Wallaby Bill Young paid $30 million for another well-known Sydney pub, The Five Dock Hotel, last week.
