Laundy Family Goes Coastal on $40m Lennox Hotel

Rich-listers the Laundy family have teamed up with bar baron Fraser Short’s The Sydney Collective to buy the Lennox Hotel, and deepen their interests in the Byron Bay region.

The beachfront pub and events space reportedly went for more than $40 million, demonstrating the ongoing strength of regional markets.

Previously sold for $14.5 million more than a decade ago to the Campbell and Lister families, the hospitality consortium of Fraser Short and Stu Laundy will now take the reins.

It’s the second big-ticket property Laundy Hotels and The Sydney Collective have acquired in the region, after purchasing The Farm at Byron Bay, a popular spot with local celebrities.

“Lennox Head is both a world-class destination and a sought-after lifestyle for those that are lucky enough to enjoy it,” The Sydney Collective’s Fraser Short said.

“The Lennox presented itself as an unmissable asset so we joined together with our long term partners the Laundy family to ensure we can deliver back to the community a gathering place that represents their lifestyle and one they can be proud of being associated with.”

The Byron Bay region has continued to attract local tourism and seachangers escaping the impacts of Covid.

It has had a big impact on the property prices in the area with an REA report in November indicating Bangalow was the most searched for suburb on the real estate listings site. Interest in Bangalow has pushed house prices up 1281 per cent in two decades from $76,025 in 2000 to $1.05 million in 2020.

SQM Research data shows that property listings in Byron Bay are at their lowest on record (since 2010), supporting the ongoing migration of remote workers moving to regional areas after Covid.

The hospitality industry has been a hot property market to watch with many regional pubs hitting the market in 2021.