Wentworth House, home of Veriu Central Hotel, listed for sale
The Veriu Central Hotel in Sydney's Surry Hills has been listed for sale, just a year after it was officially launched.
The landmark building on the corner of Wentworth Avenue and Elizabeth Street was previously known as Wentworth House.
Two years ago it was announced that Veriu, who have a long lease at 75 Wentworth Avenue, would spend $15 million converting the iconic building into a 112 room hotel.
The are four other retail shops housed within the building that are currently being leased.
They include the cafe Basket Brothers and the popular modern Australian restaurant Nel.
Nel, named after owner and chef Nelly Robinson, won Time Out Sydney's People's Choice Best Restaurant in 2015.
Accessible from the refurbished lobby is the Drawing Room, Veriu's modern interpretation of a 1920s Drawing Room, as well as Harry's Dumpling House and Harry's Singapore Chilli Crab.
Colliers International agents Joseph Lin, Karen Wales and Gus Moors advise that the current owner has explored the possibility of expanding the building given it sits well below the permissable planning guidelines in relation to floor space ratios and building heights.
“The opportunity to secure such well-located properties is incredibly rare, and when coupled with the security of the leases and potential development upside, Sydney has not witnessed such a quality investment opportunity for a long time,” Moors said.
The current owner had looked at two different developments which had the potential to add between 42 and 93 extra rooms above the current building.
Last month Veriu co-founders Alex Thorpe and Rhys Williams listed Park Side, the boarding house on the fringe of Redfern and Surry Hills.
Veriu, launched in early 2017, also have hotels in Broadway and Green Square. They have 42 properties, including 20 stand-alone hotels spread across Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.
Marketing agent Karen Wales said Sydney was a very tightly held hotel ownership market, with only two CBD hotels transacting in 2018 and only 10 CBD properties selling below $100 million over the past five years.
“The Sydney City accommodation market now comprises approximately 23,553 accommodation rooms and, given the record high occupancy levels, has greater capacity to absorb new rooms,” she said.
“While there are new rooms coming into the Sydney City hotel market, the pace of openings is considerably slower than in other Australian state capitals."