Ascot Vale's Laurel Hotel Sells For $3.32 Million

ASCOT Vale’s Laurel Hotel sold at auction on Thursday for $3.32 million.

The prominent Mount Alexander Road pub sits on a massive 1167 square metre site and was sold with a five year lease, with two options, each of six years.

Sources say an opportunist owner could develop a high density apartment project above the existing structure while still allowing the drinking hole to operate and fulfil its lease below.

CB Richard Ellis Hotels Scott Callow, said that based on the asset’s annual rental income of $187,200, the pub sold on a yield of 5.6 per cent.

Ascot Vale – an understated and often forgotten inner-city suburb – has not avoided the construction wave underway all around Melbourne at the moment.

Near the Laurel, the Church of Scientology is building its new Melbourne headquarters into the former Sisters of Mercy College, opposite the Ascot Vale Tram Depot. The Church recently sold its 30-year Melbourne headquarters at Russell Street to property investor and developer, David Marriner.

Elsewhere in Ascot Vale, Coles Group has built a shopping centre on a former chunk of the Royal Australian Showgrounds site, while at various sites on the banks of the Maribyrnong River, medium density residential projects are replacing former Department of Defence sites.