The multi-generational hotelier Ryan family has acquired Double Bay’s landmark Royal Oak Hotel in an off-market transaction reported to be around $100 million.

Negotiated by HTL Property Directors Andrew Jolliffe and Dan Dragicevich, the legendary Royal Oak Hotel occupies a strategic position in Double Bay and is one of Australia’s most recognisable hospitality venues.

The hotel had been owned by the Royal Hotels Group, owned by the Malouf brothers – Jamie, Justin and Ed – since they purchased it in 2011.

Ed Malouf said: “It’s a great result that the hotel will be handed over to the Ryan family who are well recognised, astute hotel operators in the pub industry; and we wish them all the best going forward.”

The Ryan family once owned the Golden Sheaf Hotel on New South Head Road, Double Bay.

Patrick Ryan said: “We’re delighted to have acquired such a well-known and equally well patronised Sydney hotel and look forward to continuing the outstanding custodianship carried by the Royal Hotels Group over the past 15 years.

“The family are particularly excited about being back in a Double Bay pub.”

The transaction comes at a particularly active point in Double Bay’s evolution, with a significant pipeline of world-class and high-end residential, accommodation hotel and mixed-use investment set to reshape the precinct and further strengthen its position as one of Sydney’s premier lifestyle destinations.

HTL Property National Director Dan Dragicevich said: “Double Bay is going through a generational period of investment, and the quality and scale of capital being deployed across the precinct is significant.

“The Royal Oak sits right in the middle of that story. The dynamic combination of population growth, premium commercial and residential development; and substantial investment into the surrounding retail and hospitality precinct provides for compelling long-term revenue growth and value trajectory.”

HTL Property Managing Director Andrew Jolliffe said the transaction reflected a continued demand from sophisticated capital origins for irreplaceable metropolitan hotel assets.

“Investors are increasingly looking to investment factors in addition to what is simply the existing earnings profile, and in doing so are considering the quality of the underlying real estate, as well as the rarity and availability of true trophy status, generational hospitality assets,” he said.

“As such, the Ryan Family has secured what is patently an iconic hotel, at an important chronological point in the continued evolution of Double Bay.

“As a specialist firm we enjoy access to sophisticated market receptors, and reporting mechanisms; but the key metric we subscribe to and the one that remains most pronounced in the current marketplace is that fundamentally, simplistically, we have more buyers than sellers.”