Sorrento’s troubled Continental Hotel back on the market…again
Sorrento’s Continental Hotel is back on the market, with receivers having taken over the landmark property after repeated issues with its $100 million redevelopment.
The Supreme Court of Victoria has ruled to end the 145-year-old heritage building’s previous contract of sale.
This has effectively taken control of the property out of the hands of owner Continental Development Pty Ltd and its director Julian Gerner, and put it in the hands of the receivers, PKF Melbourne.
The hotel has been plagued with problems since Gerner bought it in 2015, with contractual issues and a failed partnership with defunct developer Steller Group halting its redevelopment and causing it to fall into disrepair.
Gerner almost sold the landmark hotel to LBA Capital for $21 million last year, but the deal fell through.
Colliers International hotels director Guy Wells says he and co-selling agent Trent Hobart will be seeking expressions of interest for the “trophy asset”, with the campaign to officially kick off next week and close in mid to late April.
Wells says no price guide has been set, as “all offers will be considered”.
An artist’s impression of what the redeveloped Continental Hotel would have looked like.
“This asset is now in the hands of receivers, which means that it can be transacted,” he says.
“Hopefully the community can get their asset back. There are literally none like it in Victoria.”
The building was “largely gutted internally” and needed “an extensive amount of work to finish it off”, Mr Wells said: “How (the buyer) wants to finish it off will be up to them.”
PKR Melbourne partner Petr Vrsecky says the Supreme Court decision has allowed the Continental Hotel to be “on the market again (as a) clean proposition”.
“We are pleased and relieved the matter has been brought to a head, and that we can now move forward with the sale of such an illustrious property,” he says.
In addition to buying the hotel for a reported $15 million in 2015, Gerner also purchased a neighbouring piece of land and obtained heritage and planning approvals for a $22 million redevelopment, Leader Newspapers have previously reported.
Julian Gerner and former Steller boss Nicholas Smedley outside the Continental Hotel, Sorrento during their short-lived partnership.
Upon realising he couldn’t fund this, Gerner put the property on the market seeking more than $20 million in 2017. But he later decided not to sell after entering into a joint venture to restore and renovate the building with Steller.
Work began on that plan in 2018. The first stage featuring a new bar and bistro, fine dining and function area was due to open by September 2019 and the second stage, comprising a wellness centre, a 60-room hotel, a cafe, pool and whisky bar, by this month.
But that project stalled last April when Steller collapsed.
Gerner was bullish about the redevelopment’s future just last month, when he told the Mornington Peninsula Leader he “was close” to securing finance for the project.
The hotel was built in Victorian Italianate style using locally quarried limestone, and opened in 1875, under the direction of comic actor, politician, philanthropist and businessman George Coppin.
This article from The Herald Sun originally appeared as “Continental Hotel, Sorrento back on the market”.
