The Royal Hotel at Ingham is an iconic property about to celebrate its 100th birthday.

But it will be party time every day for new owners given the return on investment from this North Queensland landmark.

Antonio Curulli from Tourism Brokers has the freehold for the Royal Hotel listed for $2.95m. He says the hotel, built in 1924, is returning 14 per cent on investment, though that figure is expected to grow quickly.

“The property has a brand new bottle shop and the profits from it have yet to be added to the overall returns,” Mr Curulli said, “but it will provide a significant cashflow going forward in its own right, adding further to the bottom line.

“The hotel was also extensively renovated between 2018 and to 2020 while still retaining its original Art Deco theme.”

Mr Curulli said the renovations had been made in the main bar, the kitchen, bistro, and accommodation areas, and were extensive.

He said “this freehold going concern” was also underpinned by 15 gaming machines which were worth more than $2.5m.

“The Royal Hotel represents a really rare opportunity to buy such an iconic property,” he said. “It’s one of the best known places in town. It’s an important part of the community, and its huge function room has hosted a lot of weddings and wakes over almost 100 years.”

The property has been owned by the same family for seven decades.

There are 15 basic accommodation rooms – 13 single, and two double – and all are fully air-conditioned. There is also a self-contained owners/managers unit, though the current owners do not reside on site.

Mr Curulli said the hotel site was more than 3000 square metres and had multiple bars as well as the option to create themed areas for functions.

“It also has one of the best commercial kitchens for the area and the gravel car park at the rear provides 50 parking spaces with additional room for larger vehicles.”

Next to the hotel is a public parking area for up to 60 cars that is maintained by the local council.

The Royal’s net profit was $419,753 for 2021/22 and Mr Curulli said he expected it to again be in excess of $400K for the 2022-23 year, building to $500K-plus once the bottle shop and other improvements kicked in.

“There’s also the energy and enthusiasm that comes with new owners,” Mr Curulli said.

“With the value of the gaming machines already installed a new owner is virtually picking up the freehold of the property for free.”

Ingham has a population of about 5000 and is on the Bruce Highway, about 110 kilometres north of Townsville and 1400 kilometres north of Brisbane. It has been an important centre for sugar production for more than 150 years.

More than half of Ingham’s population are of Italian descent, and the town is sometimes called “Little Italy”. The Australian-Italian Festival is held in Ingham on the first weekend in August each year and draws thousands of people to celebrate the arrival of the first Italian immigrants to the region in the 1890s.

Other attractions near Ingham include the 268m-high Wallaman Falls and the spectacular Hinchinbrook Island on the Great Barrier Reef.

As well as producing bumper crops of sugar cane over the years Ingham has also turned out some notable Australians including Arthur Fadden, the 13th Prime Minister, David Crisafulli, the current Leader of the Opposition in Queensland, war hero Keith Payne VC, Eric Feldt, the head of the Coastwatchers in World War II, as well as rugby league greats Sam Backo, Greg Dowling and Laurie Spina.