Source : THE AGE NEWS
Capital Gain
Actress and pub owner Marney McQueen and her husband Frank Arangio are moving to Melbourne, after selling their Central Coast pub for a whopping $22 million.
The couple have spent the past decade transforming the popular Royal Hotel in Wyong, where Arangio poured the beers while McQueen hosted cabaret nights in the back bar.
McQueen, who counts stand-up comedy, voiceover and dance among her talents, has also transformed herself into a marriage celebrant.
The Royal Hotel was a case of life imitating art for the actor. She played the role of Marion, the hard-drinking pub owner, in the debut Australian stage production of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert – The Musical.
She enjoyed the role so much that the pair bought the Royal and spent time, and about $5 million, upgrading and renovating the property.
The pub has been snapped up by the Bayfield family, who run a prominent hospitality empire. They join a march of hoteliers homing in on NSW’s Central Coast.
The Bayfield Hotel Group joins pub barons Arthur Laundy and John Singleton, who have invested heavily in the NSW Central Coast from Gosford to Terrigal and Woy Woy.
Records show that McQueen, Arangio and veteran publican Pat Gurr paid $7 million to purchase the freehold going concern of the pub in 2016.
The hotel is on a substantial 3537-square-metre landholding adjacent to Wyong train station in the heart of Wyong town centre. It generates $7.85 million in annual revenue across the bar, food sales, gaming and its 14 accommodation rooms.
HTL Property’s Dan Dragicevich, Andrew Jolliffe and Blake Edwards advised on the sale.
Banksmeadow bus
Private investor Pittwater Industrial has boosted its asset base with the purchase of a Banksmeadow industrial investment for $9.25 million.
The group is run by former Urbanest directors Ted Hawkins and Dave Munro, who beat a range of potential buyers for the 13 Meadow Way site.
Pittwater Industrial was formed in 2021 and invests and manages high-end industrial properties. It owns assets in Brisbane and Sydney, including a 1.37-hectare logistics estate near Sydney Airport that it paid $66.75 million to former owner, rich lister Bob Ell.
The Banksmeadow transaction was a sale and leaseback deal with the former owner and now tenant, global tourism operator Big Bus Tours (City Sightseeing Pty Ltd), on a 10-year term with two five-year options.
The 2661-square-metre site has a 546-square-metre office, a workshop and 1403 square metres of covered hardstand and open warehousing.
The sale is the first industrial investment transaction completed in the South Sydney precinct in 2026, changing hands on a 5.405 per cent net passing yield, equivalent to $3474.97 per square metre of land.
Colliers’ Trent Gallagher and Billy Marsh negotiated the sale.
House of Pickle
Recreation operator House of Pickle has secured its first South Sydney pickleball location, committing to a long-term lease over a 2000-square-metre industrial building in Botany.
The sport is one of the fastest-growing in the world and combines elements of tennis, table tennis and badminton. Its attraction is that it can be played everywhere from cruise ships to indoor former warehouses.
House of Pickle leased 21 Underwood Avenue for 10 years. It currently operates six locations across NSW and will use the converted Botany industrial facility to establish its first presence in Sydney’s south, and its seventh facility to date.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Nick Mallett and Greer McLeod, who negotiated the lease, said the deal shows that older industrial buildings can attract quality long-term occupiers if the property suits their operational needs.
Turkish bath
The historic 83-hectare Wynstay Estate at Mount Wilson, owned by the Wynne family for the past 150 years, is being offered to the market with a $5.5 million guide.
The family behind the property went on to establish the Wynne Prize for landscape painting and sculpture at the Art Gallery of NSW. The holding includes the historic Wynstay residence, the original 1875 cottage, extensive gardens, a stable and a Turkish bath.
The decision to sell follows five generations of family ownership since the estate was established in 1875 by Sydney merchant Richard Wynne.
Colliers’ agents Daniel McMahon and Nathan Berlyn are advising on the sale.
carolynannecummins@gmail.com
The Market Recap newsletter is a wrap of the day’s trading. Get it each weekday afternoon.
