Pubs Commercial Property News

One of Victoria’s last remaining drive-in cinemas, an unassuming building that featured in a cult Aussie film and a pub linked to an underworld figure were among Melbourne’s most notable commercial property listings this year.

From industrial gems to big-name brands to pubs linked to the underworld, Australia’s most-viewed commercial properties came in all manner of guises in 2018.

The revamped Portsea Hotel has been unveiled, following a “much needed” six-month transformation that cost its rich lister owner $7 million.

Veteran publican Peter Braithwaite has snapped up Brisbane’s Red Lion Hotel for just shy of $7 million, and is planning to upgrade the long popular southside establishment.

Pub mogul Justin Hemmes has taken the biggest bet of his career, buying a large Sydney CBD site adjoining his Ivy party palace for a multi-storey development valued at more than $1.5 billion.

Pub patriarch Arthur Laundy has amassed a portfolio of 64 hotels, but the veteran is not stopping there — revealing more development projects than ever.

The Great Western. The Corkman. The Stork. The Greyhound. The Town Hall. The Exchange. To some, they were cultural institutions that deserved better; to others, struggling businesses sitting on valuable land.

A rooftop bar and restaurant in Hobart’s CBD has been granted approval by the council.

The $300 million-plus pub fund operated by leading business figures Geoff Dixon, John Singleton and Mark Carnegie has been all but sold down with just three city and suburban hotels in Brisbane and Sydney plus an interest in a fourth pub remaining.