The Beach Hotel in Byron Bay is once again changing hands with The Australian reporting that it has sold for $70 million.
Impact Investment Group, a Melbourne based firm, has confirmed to Echonetdaily that they are expecting that contracts for settlement will be exchanged in around six months – some time in February 2018.
‘We have a strong network in Byron Bay and will be working with the current tenants,’ said a Spokesperson for Impact Investment Group.
‘The community can take confidence that working with the community is something that Impact Investment has done and will continue to do.
‘It’s an iconic and much loved hotel. We are really excited about the possibilities to rejuvenate the hotel.’
According to their website their mission is to ‘shift capital towards investments that blend financial returns with deep social and environmental impact, and to lead by example in using all of our resources to create the world we want to live in.’
The Australian reported that Impact Investment is a ’private equity firm believed to be backed by the wealthy Liberman family that has more than $400 million in funds under management. Investors include wealthy individuals, families, institutional investors, corporations and foundations.’
Amusingly the owner, racing car driver, Max Twigg, had a week earlier denied to The Australian that he was selling the hotel stating that, ‘“I am a happy owner, I have been for ten years.”’
Echonetdaily contacted The Beach Hotel but no comment will be available on the sale until General Manager, Elke van Haandel, returns from her overseas trip in late September.
We used to have a saying about good bars in Sydney’s heyday : “When the ‘suits’ turn up it’s time to move on” … R.I.P Byron Shire.
I my childhood the suits – the local business owners – used to drink at the Great Northern; the many working men crowded into the Railway bar – perhaps because it was handy to Norco and the Zircon Rutile plant, or maybe schooners were a penny cheaper. The Pier Astor was more popular with visitors – some things don’t change in the Bay.