Trimboli and Fini secure the historic Perth honeymoon hotel, the Coogee

Perth restaurateur Nic Trimboli and property developer Adrian Fini have bought the historic Coogee Hotel.

The 118 year old premises were bought from Main Roads WA for $2.3 million.

They intend to embark on a restaurant venture at the 6660 sqm site.

When the WA State Government bought the Coogee Hotel in 1981, it intended to pull it down and build a road through the site.

The hotel, located in Coogee, seven kilometres south of Fremantle, was built around 1899 by local identity Walter Powell.

It became known as “the honeymooners’ hotel” because it was popular with newlyweds for its gardens and proximity to the beach. Powell died in 1923, and in 1927 the Coogee Hotel was closed after the De-Licencing Board decided there were too many hotels in the area. The hotel became an orphanage which closed in 1969.

It was heritage-listed in 2001 and the restored as part of the State Government’s $4 million Revolving Fund, a scheme to reactivate languishing publicly owned heritage buildings.

The heritage hotel offering listed for sale at $2.4 million has a lettable area of 400sq m.

The nearby Woodman Point Recreation Reserve attracts 350,000-500,000 visitors per year.

Trimboli and Fini, who are also co-founders of Little Creatures brewery, hope to complete their plans for the Cockburn Road property by mid-2018.