28 May 2024
Words The Hotel Conversation

ResortBrokers settles largest ever regional management rights transaction

ResortBrokers Director Alex Cook and Managing Director Trudy Crooks have settled the largest ever management rights transaction for a regional location with the sale of The Edge Apartment Hotel and Empire Apartment Hotel in Rockhampton.

The management and letting rights to these neighbouring high-rises, which lie along the Fitzroy River in Rockhampton’s CBD, were sold in one line for more than $10 million.

The 95-room The Edge, opened in 2009, rises 12 storeys and is Rockhampton’s leading 4-star rated accommodation.

The 118-room Empire, opened in 2014, rises 13 storeys and has a conference centre, three onsite restaurants and rooftop pool. In 2021, Empire’s excellence was acknowledged with gold awards apiece by the Queensland Tourism Awards and the Qantas Australian Tourism Awards.

“Rockhampton is regional Australia’s top-performing short-stay corporate apartment hotel market,” says Cook.

“Offered together, The Edge and Empire presented an unrivalled opportunity to capture a large slice of that market by operating what are unquestionably Rockhampton’s finest hotels and among the largest outside South East Queensland.”

Cook’s recent transactions include the 317-key Gabba Central Apartments, one of Brisbane’s largest ever management rights sales, which sold off-market to a private syndicate for more than $10 million in December 2023.

In July 2023, Cook’s sale of Annexe Apartments set a record price of $8.3 million as the first large, short-let management rights to sell in Brisbane since Covid.

Cook’s recent successes earned him two of the highest industry awards in 2023: REIQ’s Commercial Salesperson of the Year and ARAMA’s Broker of the Year. END