Peter De Angelis adds to pub portfolio with $8.5m Gunnedah Hotel buy

The Gunnedah is located 40 minutes from Tamworth in one of the fastest-growing agricultural centres in NSW.

Sydney-based pub heir Peter De Angelis has added to his growing portfolio of hotels, paying more than $8.5m to purchase the Gunnedah Hotel in NSW’s northeast.

Mr De Angelis, a nephew of billionaire pub tycoon Arthur Laundy, bought the regional hotel from Sydney publican and businessman Dan Whitten through JLL Hotels & Hospitality.

Mr De Angelis refused to comment on his purchase when contacted by The Australian.

Located 40 minutes from Tamworth in one of the fastest-growing agricultural centres in NSW, the large format hotel occupies nearly 3000sq m and has pokies, public bar, bistro with several dining areas, beer garden, 28 refurbished accommodation rooms including 10 with ensuites, as well as off-street parking, according to JLL Hotels & Hospitality.

The buyer is believed to have negotiated a short sale-and-leaseback agreement to ensure minimal disruption to the hotel’s management while the new owners prepare for the handover.

Mr Whitten said he decided to sell to pursue business opportunities closer to Sydney and realise some of the work and investment he had put in transforming the hotel, which he has owned for the past three and half years.

“We bought an old pub and we spent a good 18 months renovating it,” Mr Whitten said.

Mr Whitten will retain his Tamworth hotel and will continue to operate The Robin Hood Hotel in Sydney’s Waverley with his family.

JLL vice president Kate MacDonald and Greg Jeloudev marketed the hotel via a formal expression of interest campaign. Both declined to comment on the sale.

There are plenty of other regional deals are in the works.

Newcastle favourite The Delany Hotel, known as “the Del”, is on the block for about $35m. The pub is on a prominent retail corner in the heart of Cooks Hill’s precinct, and has few rivals in scale.

The pub’s public bar and gaming room have undergone a $2.5m renovation, and there are plans to modernise the ground floor bistro and first floor bar.

Eager buyers have snapped up properties including the Beach Hotel in Merewether, the Northumberland in Lambton and the Beauford in Mayfield in recent plays.

HTL Property’s Dan Dragicevich and Andrew Jolliffe are handling the sale, and also have the Lambton Park Hotel in Newcastle for sale for about $9m.

That hotel sports a ground floor bar, bistro and a gaming room with 12 machines.