Publicans Peter and Jenny Hurley have purchased their first hotel outside of South Australia, buying the Ivory Tavern in northern New South Wales.
The husband-and-wife team leading Hurley Hotel Group purchased the Tweed Heads pub off hotelier Brendan Lawless, with the freehold sale conducted by HTL Property’s Queensland Director, Glenn Price, and New South Wales director, Blake Edwards.
Lawless purchased the Ivory Tavern in early 2017, after seeing the potential of the trophy hotel.
“I always saw this pub as a project for me, when I first took over the pub it had been run under management for many years and was pretty flat; but I could see that with a fair amount of effort and a tweak to the offering, it just had to work.”
Set right on the Tweed River, the Ivory Tavern includes a bar, bistro, gaming room with 15 EGMs, beer garden, and a 100+ capacity car park. It also operates a valuable 32-berth boat marina.
For former national AHA and AHASA president Peter Hurley and publican Jenny Hurley, the purchase of the Ivory Tavern was both a strategic and lifestyle choice.
“Jenny and I are now residents of the area, having purchased a property in Northern New South Wales; and we are looking forward to the opportunities the Ivory has to offer.”
The Tweed Heads pub joins Hurley Hotel Group’s portfolios of 10 hotels situated in South Australia. The sale reaffirms the current demand among hoteliers for coastal properties on the east coast.
“Interest in coastal hotel trophy assets continues from all states of Australia, as we have shown now via numerous recent sale campaigns in both NSW and Queensland,” stated Price.
“While it is widely known that many large groups are firmly in acquisition mode for this style of asset, as a company and due to our national network of clients, we continue to unlock new and financially strong groups and individuals prepared to enter the Eastern seaboard market.”