Computershare boss buys up Sydney’s Newtown Hotel

Computershare founder Chris Morris has added another leisure asset to his burgeoning national portfolio, buying the leasehold of the Newtown Hotel.

Morris’ diversified Colonial Leisure Group has multiple leisure properties, including Queensland’s Orpheus Island, the Daintree EcoLodge and Spa, numerous Melbourne and Perth pubs plus two holiday assets in Portland and Britain.

His acquisition of the award-winning Newtown Hotel, in Sydney’s popular inner west, was negotiated via an off-market transaction managed by JLL national director John Musca.

The bar has noticeably raised in Sydney over the past three years for on-premise hotel offers

The vendor was the Keystone Group and the acquisition price was undisclosed.

The sale follows recent acquisitions of Sydney food and beverage-centric leasehold hotels by the Melbourne’s Dixon Group in the lead-up to a mooted 2016 float.

“The bar has noticeably raised in Sydney over the past three years for on-premise hotel offers,” Musca says.

“We’ve sold three hotels in Newtown, more recently the Queen Victoria to the Merivale group.”

This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.