Capital Gain
The former owners of the Espy are having another crack at selling the Fitzroy pub they bought when they offloaded St Kilda’s landmark hotel.
The five-level pub at 125-129 Brunswick Street which housed the Ichi Ni Nana Izakaya restaurant, is now offered vacant and the price tag has lurched to suit the situation, from 2024’s $10 million-plus down to $6-7 million – about half the cost of its potential replacement value.
Records show it last traded in 2012 for $4.84 million to the Adamo and Sofo families who then owned the Esplanade hotel in St Kilda.
They opened the Ichi Ni business in 2015 a couple of years before they sold the Espy to Sand Hill Road for $13.2 million. After a major refurbishment, Sand Hill Road then sold the lease to Australian Venue Co and the freehold to the Cohen family for $64 million.
The 1649-square-metre building, opposite the Atherton Gardens housing estate, is on a large 662-square-metre site and comes with a coveted 3am liquor licence for 478 patrons.
It’s going to auction on May 28 through Stonebridge Property Group’s Nic Hage, Rorey James and Ian Lam.
Further north, Melbourne Racing Club’s hospo arm Pegasus Leisure Group has paid $3.4 million for the Pascoe Vale RSL at 40-42 Cumberland Road and its carpark across the road.
There had been hopes of getting $4.5 million for the combined 1804 square metre landholding. The Pascoe Vale RSL, established in 1948, entered voluntary administration last year.
The transaction was negotiated by Colliers Lucas Soccio and Travis Keenan.
Meanwhile, the Grossi family which ran Florentino’s in the CBD, has sold another of its hospitality assets, the Brandon Hotel in North Carlton.
Records show Grossi paid $2.75 million for the pub in 2022 but is believed to be settling for a price in the low $2 million range which nonetheless reflected a tight yield under 4 per cent.
HTL’s Scott Callow and Dan Ryan declined to reveal the exact sale price. The pub was sold with a new five-year lease.
Also looking for a new lease is the Squire Hotel Group, which has operated Strathmore’s many-storied Cross Keys Hotel for the past ten years.
The carpark between the pub and the Cross Keys Reserve was the scene of a notorious murder in 2003 that kicked off Melbourne’s gangland wars.
The pub, at 350 Pascoe Vale Road, is opposite Strathmore railway station, about a kilometre south of Bell Street. That makes it a 15-minute drive to the airport or a 20-minute getaway to the city.
The pub comes with a sports bar, including a TAB, 40 gaming machines, a beer garden overlooking neighbouring park lands and a bistro.
JLL’s Will Connolly and Cropley Commercial’s George Iliopulos have the listing but declined to provide a price tag.
Sleepy times
Forty Winks has found a new bed as its old Fitzroy digs are prepared for demolition.
The bed retailer and its neighbours, Bohemio Furniture and McCoppins, have shut up shop at 159-167 Johnston Street as the site’s owner waits for a decision on its build-to-rent proposal.
Forty Winks is moving down the road to 248 Hoddle Street, Abbotsford on the corner of Turner Street. The 616-square-metre property is in a strip of home-oriented businesses between the Eastern Freeway and Johnston Street.
Forty Winks has committed to a five-year lease paying $215,000 a year in a deal negotiated by Gray Johnson’s Matt Hoath.
“Occupiers are increasingly prioritising locations like Collingwood and Abbotsford where they will benefit from the high quality residential and mixed-use developments we expect to see in the next decade. There has been a renewed surge in leasing enquiries across the inner north and east,” Hoath said.
Indeed, Cobild, the new owner of Forty Winks’ old premises near Brunswick Street, has applied to the minister for a permit for an 11-storey 243-unit project for 159-167 Johnston Street.
It’s not the only 11-storey BTR project on the rise. US giants Pembroke and Greystar are also building a $200 million 11-storey development at 155 Johnston Street, which is set back from the street.
Cobild, which has spent well over $25 million amassing the site on the corner of Johnston and Napier streets, got a bit ahead of itself last year, complaining about noise levels at a neighbouring venue, the Night Cat, before it had even demolished the existing showrooms.
The whole affair spurred the City of Yarra to create protected Live Music Precincts within its borders, including Johnston and Brunswick streets. Rest easy.
Leen in
Another significant development site on the Barwon River’s former industrial precinct in Newtown has come to market carrying a $20 million-plus price tag.
The Leen family has held parts of the 4.2 hectare landholding since the 1970s and operated its building supplies business from 9-15 Riversdale Road.
The picturesque riverside locale is in great demand for both commercial and residential redevelopment.
Last year, Geelong’s Hamilton Group paid $33 million for The Mill, which came with planning approval for a mixed-use development with 314 apartments and 29 townhouses.
The three interconnected sites are on four titles and for sale as one property or separately. A mix of tenants currently returns $927,000 a year in rent.
Geelong-based agents Darcy Jarman’s Tim Darcy and Andrew Prowse, who declined to comment, are running the expressions of interest campaign with Charter Keck Cramer’s Lachlan Devine and Tom Byrnes acting as transaction advisors.
Charcoal chicken
An El Jannah charcoal chicken joint in the Geelong suburb of Belmont has sold for a bumper $6.5 million to an investor based in Croatia.
The property at 85 High Street was vacant when it changed hands last year for $4.25 million but got a quick $2.1 million makeover courtesy of the new high-profile tenant.
Last November, El Jannah, which started in Sydney’s western suburbs nearly 30 years ago, was sold to US private equity firm General Atlantic for $800 million.
CBRE’s Nathan Mufale, Scott Hawthorne, JJ Heng and David Napoleone handled the Belmont sale which reflected a yield of 5.47 per cent.
A new record has been set in the eastern suburb of Mooroolbark where a new medical centre at 14-16 Brice Avenue fetched $3.34 million at auction, reflecting a tight 4.85 per cent yield.
The General Practice medical group has a new 10-year lease on the 402-square-metre property.
Fitzroys’ Chris Kombi and Ben Liu, with Stonebridge Property Group’s Nic Hage, Ian Lam and Rorey James ran the auction, with Advise Transact handling the process.
At 401 Chapel Street, the shop leased by specs chain Bailey Nelson sold at auction for $3.35 million on a 4.65 per cent yield.
The South Yarra shop is opposite the razed 3306-square-metre site recently bought by Bill McNee’s Vicland group for $65 million. The Stonebridge team, including Madison Page, managed that auction.
The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning.
