Sydney’s Selina’s building not for sale

Sydney’s Coogee Bay Hotel – home of one of the city’s most iconic live music venues Selina’s— is not for sale, its owners emphasise.

It follows a piece in News Corp that the beachside hotel, which includes accommodation, conference and function, as well as dining facilities, was for sale and that the asking price was $250 million.

It also indicated that nightclub and hospitality high flyer Justin Hemmes, CEO of Merivale, had shown interest.

Hotel owners C!NC, who took over the Coogee Bay Hotel 27 years ago, issued a statement clarifying what they called an “inaccurate” report.

The statement read: “As a result of a number of unsolicited approaches by potential buyers, we decided in early 2018 to test the market in order to establish the potential value of the site and the hotel operations.

“An invitation-only process was conducted and completed in April 2018.

“The board of C!NC concluded at the completion of the process that business would continue as usual.”

C!NC’s Christopher Cheung emphasised the company’s commitment to the local community and its charitable endeavours with the Sydney Children’s Hospital and the Coogee Surf Lifesaving Club.

Last month, the 1700-capacity Selina’s was the first to receive a grant under American Express’ inaugural $1 million Music Backers Program to help the local live music industry through funds, mentorship and other tools.

Cheung said that the money would be used to upgrade Selina’s look.

The Killers played a free one-hour show the night after, as part of the announcement.

The Killers’ show included a version of INXS’ ‘Don’t Change’ – quite apt, as INXS were among the many Australian and international acts that played Selina’s over 40 years.

So did the likes of the Oils, Chisel, Birdman, Crawl and just about every major international band that came through Sydney.

Nirvana, who were to play a number of venues around the city, blew those out just to continue playing at Selina’s.

In September 2016, the music venue was reactivated on Friday nights.