Pentagon Group's purchase of three Tasmanian hotels for $35 million on Wednesday is the start of an extensive $100 million property portfolio for the organisation.
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Prospect property The Olde Tudor Hotel, Bayside Inn at St Helens and Lauderdale's The Foreshore were purchased from EBC Leisure by the hotel division of the Melbourne property development and investment firm.
Combined, the three properties have 132 accommodation rooms and more than 100 staff.
Pentagon Group has owned Quest Launceston for the past seven years.
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Managing director Vijan Patel said his Launceston-based business partner Pratik Sarsavadia told him about the three Tasmanian properties and they decided to expand.
"He said we've already got a hotel operation here, we've got a great team; why don't we expand our horizons in Tasmania?" Mr Patel said.
"Eventually the plan is to grow this portfolio to $100 million in the next two to three years," he said.
The pair were attracted by the hotels' "solid income" and potential as assets.
Mr Sarsavadia has been tasked with finding more properties to add to Pentagon's portfolio throughout the state, but he said he was most interested in Launceston.
"I would prefer Launceston ... but we are constantly looking around the state for opportunities," Mr Sarsavadia said.
"Over the past eight years Tasmania has continuously grown, particularly in tourism. There is a sense of opportunity that is just going to grow," he said.
Now the sale has been finalised Pentagon will spend the next two years upgrading the three sites to bring them up to three-and-a-half-star standard.
"We want to make sure we are providing the quality accommodation that Tasmania needs," Mr Sarsavadia said.
"The plan is to make them all four-star properties," Mr Patel said.
This starts with rebranding all three properties to Comfort Inn from next week.
Hotels are not the only properties in the Pentagon portfolio, with its website listing upcoming developments at 247 West Tamar Road, Riverside, and another development in the Tamar Valley.
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