Melb: ‘Australia’s worst hotel’ site’s next stage after selling for $3m+
A former Coburg North motel once known as “Australia’s worst hotel” is set for a new lease on life after selling for a seven-figure sum. The ex-StayInn Motel at 844-846 Sydney Rd was put on the market with $3.6m-$3.7m expectations in July.
NSL Property Group director Guy Naselli declined to comment on the sold price but industry sources indicated the 2289sq m site sold within its asking range, last week.
RELATED: Mornington factory turned $2m designer man cave
East Geelong shopping village up for grabs amid building boom
Premiers’ former Hawthorn church transformed into $8m office space
In addition to serving as a motel, the now-vacant property was previously used as crisis accommodation including for recently-released prisoners and homeless people.
Before the business shut its doors in 2019, guests’ reviews on websites such as TripAdvisor labelled the venue “the worst hotel on the planet”, “slum-like” and a “junkie city”.
Cockroaches, bedbugs, syringes and graffiti were also mentioned.
At one stage, the hotel had the lowest TripAdvisor rating in Victoria but it did win praise from some for providing vulnerable people with temporary low-cost housing.
In 2017, a man was shot in the leg when an argument broke out in the motel’s foyer.
The following year, the motel featured in a documentary aired on SBS’s VICE channel.
The boarded-up former hotel photographed in 2017. Picture: Valeriu Campan.
Police attended the hotel after a 2017 shooting. Picture: Nicole Garmston.
The ex-hotel is about 9km from Melbourne’s CBD.
Mr Naselli said the address sold to a local investor who is planning to potentially transform it into residential apartments in a “refurbish and repurpose” of the existing building.
“This sale marks the end of an infamous era and the start of a brighter future,” Mr Naselli said.
“It’s a new lease on life for Australia’s worst hotel – this site has been a talking point for all the wrong reasons and now it has the chance to become a project the community can finally be proud of.”
He received almost 40 inquiries during the sales campaign, about half from Melbourne buyers and half from interstate-based buyers.
The accommodation venue in September 2018.
The hotel as it looked in 2017. Picture: Valeriu Campan.
The hotel has frontage to three streets.
Four separate groups submitted offers for the former hotel during an expressions of interest process.
“It’s fair to say that out of the others who missed out, there’s another $15m of capital with other buyers ready to deploy for similar assets,” Mr Naselli said.
“We’ve sold churches, we’ve sold Australia’s worst hotel – with any quirky properties, they are being well-received at the moment.”
Sign up to the Herald Sun Weekly Real Estate Update. Click here to get the latest Victorian property market news delivered direct to your inbox.
MORE: Aus retail giants warn of store closures amid violent crime surge
Inside Chrissie Swan’s $2.5m+ Hawthorn East property sale
Melbourne terrace sells $480k above reserve despite structural issues
