The property, which is also known as Beer Deluxe and Paddy's, was bought by Peter Griffiths, the owner of another Albury hotel, the Astor.

He was reluctant to comment afterwards and when asked about the hammer price he said: "It's a public auction, it was what it was."

Auctioneer Doug May said "the result was well above what we expected".

Six parties contested the auction at some point as the price rapidly increased in $100,000 lots after an opening offer of $8 million.

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When it reached $10.1 million, a would-be buyer from Sydney entered the contest with a bid of $11 million.

The price subsequently rose in $100,000 increments again before the Sydneysider submitted $12 million.

Mr Griffiths responded with $12.1 million and the Sydneyite countered with $13 million.

At that point, Mr Griffiths bid $13.2 million and that proved to be the winning price as the auction, held in the beer garden of the New Albury concluded.

Albury real estate agent Andrew Dixon was one of the earlier bidders on behalf of a client.

"We thought $10 million would have pulled it up," Mr Dixon said.

The property was put up for sale as part of a liquidation of company J&L Angius Pty Ltd following a family legal wrangle.

Liquidator FerrierSilvia engaged Manenti Quinlan & Associates and Mr May's firm to handle the sale of the freehold of the five-storey Bauhaus/international-style hotel which opened in 1939 as Albury's tallest building.

The Australian Venue Co. has a long-term lease to operate the hotel which has a 15 poker machine entitlement and indoor and outdoor bars.

Mr Griffiths who has had interests in hotels elsewhere in NSW, bought the Astor hotel on the corner of Guinea and Young streets in 2019 for a price around $7 million.

It has since undergone a major makeover with bar and beer garden transformed and motel units upgraded as part of a renovation inspired by a Palm Springs aesthetic from the US.

The sale of the New Albury yesterday follows other significant hotel transactions in the city last year.

The Northside Hotel at the Five Ways at Lavington sold for $16.2 million to the Harvest Hotels Group at the end of 2021, while Springdale Heights Tavern was offloaded for more $20 million to a syndicate, including the Laundy family, earlier in the year.

Last May, Albury's oldest hotel, Soden's, went under the hammer for $5.45 million was bought by the leasees for the previous three years, Brendan Tracey and his wife Lyndall Hutchinson.

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