By ANNE GIBSON
Lion Nathan has sold the old Imperial Hotel on the corner of Queen and Fort Sts for about $6.8 million.
The landmark building was earmarked for redevelopment in the 1980s, with the brewery company hoping to team up with AMP. But those plans were abandoned, so Lion put the Imperial and the neighbouring Wrights Building up for sale. The Wrights Building sold for $3.2 million last March.
Lion has owned the Imperial since 1924 but the last liquor operation there, The Park-in-the-Bar, was closed last year. Ground floor space was reconfigured into four retail tenancies: King Pies, Mister Minit, Flight Centre and Caltex. Caltex has a Star Mart on Fort St and another shop was leased to an Australian organisation for a franchised food operation.
The upstairs of the Imperial has been leased monthly by a backpackers' organisation.
The hotel was built in 1910, has three levels and a lettable area of 2552 sq m. Its Victorian style includes an ornate brick facade, iron roof and timber floors, says agent Wayne Muir of Barfoot & Thompson Commercial.
Net rent on the building is just over $600,000. The sale, to a private Auckland investor, represents a return above 9 per cent.
Mr Muir says Lion had been hoping for $6.8 million for the building, on a 880 sq m site, "and they're happy with the result."
Imperial Hotel changes owner after 76 years
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