The iconic brick arches of the Skye Suites in the Sydney CBD will welcome a new owner after the asset became the subject of the biggest hotel transaction of the year.
It is the latest deal in the wake of the collapse of the Crown Group after Iwan Sunito and Paul Sathio parted ways. Receivers listed the property in March.
Singapore’s Furama Hotels is reported to have picked up the Skye Suites for $68 million as part of an Australian acquisition spree. The company has declined to comment on the deal.
Among other assets, Furama owns and operates the former Holiday Inn Darling Harbour, which it rebranded mid-2024.
However, this latest deal fell well below other notable CBD sales of recent years, including the Sir Stamford Circular Quay that sold for $210.5 million in 2022 and the $520-million Waldorf Astoria Sydney deal of 2023. Both sites are being redeveloped.
The 5-star Skye Suites hotel comprising 73 serviced apartments is within the 25-storey Arc by Crown development.
The transaction also includes the Our Skittle Place Retail, a 918sq m space on the ground floor, anchored by Soul Origin at 300 Kent Street and 161 Clarence Street.
Agents for the deal Stonebridge Property Group and HTL Property said they had more than 20 formal offers at the close of the first round bids for the asset.
The level of interest dictated the need for a short-listed second round bidding process, where only select bidders were invited to participate in a final bidding process.
This strategy helped the agents “sharpen” both pricing and terms.
HTL Property national director of accommodation Andrew Jackson said the high-end investment attracted a who’s who of bidders.
“Sydney stands out as one of the most attractive hotel investment markets in the Asia-Pacific. Alongside Tokyo it is one of the two most popular destinations for international capital,” Jackson said.
“According to NAB’s most recent Commercial Property Survey, investor sentiment in Australia’s commercial property market has hit an eight-year high this past quarter, with CBD hotels leading the charge as the asset class investors have the most confidence in.”
The hotel will continue to trade under the Skye Suites brand while the new owner looks at complementary tenancies to round out the ground level retail precinct.
Crown’s other hotel development, the Skye Suites Green Square and One Global centre, continues to be run by Sunito after an asset swap was completed in 2024.
The Sydney CBD hotel market continued to strengthen in early 2025, building on the momentum of 2024.
Substantial improvements in performance metrics across the key indicators of occupancy, average daily room rate and revenue per available room were reported by STR in January.
