Hotel Woolstore 1888 in Sydney settles, now managed by Handwritten Collection
Shakespeare Property purchased the heritage hotel in Darling Harbour, Sydney, from Ovolo for $50 million
The purchase of Hotel Woolstore 1888 by Shakespeare Property Group Pty Ltd settled recently and is now being managed by Accor’s boutique Handwritten Collection hotel brand.
Shakespeare Property purchased the heritage hotel in Darling Harbour, Sydney, from Ovolo for $50 million or around $555,000 per key, in mid-2024.
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Hotel Woolstore is regarded as among Sydney’s finest heritage hotels, offering 90 guest rooms over four floors, and a 626 square metre footprint on freehold title, along with an award-winning wine bar.
Shakespeare Property selected Accor to manage the hotel under Accor’s boutique Handwritten Collection brand. Shakespeare Property Group also partners with Accor for several other Australian hotels including Pullman Cairns International, Novotel Cairns Oasis Resort, Novotel Sunshine Coast Resort and Peppers Marysville.
Richard Saab, Vice President Hospitality Assets and Investments at Shakespeare Property Group, said Accor’s Handwritten Collection brand is the perfect fit for the heritage hotel.
“The Handwritten Collection brand will preserve the original character of this heritage gem, help us to bring out the best in this unique hotel, and offer high service standards.
“The transition to Handwritten Collection has been seamless and we look forward to a long and productive partnership. Shakespeare Property has a well-established partnership with Accor across several other hotels and this provides us with operational efficiencies across an established centralised platform.
“In addition, Hotel Woolstore stands to benefit from ACCOR’s global commercial power in the sales, distribution, and loyalty platform.”
Shakespeare Property raised equity from wholesale investors via a single-asset, close-ended unlisted property investment trust, the Shakespeare 1888 Trusts, to fund the deal.
Shakespeare’s purchase of Hotel Woolstore 1888 was brokered by CBRE.
Shakespeare Property Group is part of an investment group, including Prime Value Asset Management Limited founded in 1998, and manages over $3 billion in equities, income securities, direct properties and alternative assets.
Mandy has over two decades of experience in accommodation and tourism industry writing, and she is also an accomplished editor and publisher. As co-Director of Multimedia Pty Ltd, a trusted B2B content provider for the accommodation and education sectors in Australia and New Zealand, she oversees high-quality print and digital content across notable publications, including AccomNews, Resort News, and School News, along with the property listing platform AccomProperties. Mandy’s contributions have been recognised with the Female Leader Award at the Best of Tourism 2023 and the ARAMA Life Member Award in 2024.