Nick Wilson

Property Editor

A 62-SUITE three-star hotel in Sandton that is set go under the hammer at an auction next month is attracting strong interest from hotel operators and property investors.

The Alliance Group, which will handle the auction, said last week the Sandton Park Hotel was the first of its kind to be auctioned in Sandton and that the owners wanted to sell to realise their investment.

Wayne Miller, business development manager at the Alliance Group, said the group estimated the hotel, in Bramley Park, Granville Place, near the Grayston Drive off-ramp, would sell for R20m-R25m.

Miller said the property had been owned by three individuals, who had acquired it in 1996 and were now wanting to “realise their investment”.

Given that the first advertisement for the auction had appeared in newspapers at the weekend, there had been “very good interest” in the hotel.

“The interest is from hotel groups and property investors,” Miller said.

The property offered another opportunity in that it could be bought as a whole and then resold on a sectional title basis as apartments, he said.

The property, which is about 25 years old, was initially an apartment block before it was converted into a hotel.

“There are now opportunities to carry it on as a hotel or sectionalise it and sell the units to realise profit,” Miller said.

Some of the rooms had individual water and electricity meters, making a sectional title conversion relatively easy.

The hotel was near to Melrose Arch, Sandton City, Rosebank, the M1 and the Wanderers, he said.

The auction will take place at the Southern Sun Hotel in Grayston Drive, Sandton, at noon on May 28.

Source: Business Day