Camberwell Junction Tells A Successful Tale
Retail leasing activity across Camberwell Junction has continued throughout Melbourne’s latest lockdown, with national retailers looking beyond COVID and taking space across the famous lifestyle precinct.
Book sellers Dymocks is moving out of Camberwell Place to 208-210 Camberwell Road, just metres from the busy Junction itself and adjacent to the landmark Rivoli Cinemas, and close to bars, restaurants and car parking.
David Bourke of Fitzroys negotiated the 5+5-year lease at $120,000pa. He said Dymocks committed to the long-term deal with an eye to the post-COVID period, with the location allowing for extended trade and the opportunity to leverage off the cinema and restaurant traffic.
“Dymocks has been trading successfully in the suburb for over 20 years, and its decision to look for a more immediate shopfront in the location is testament to the area’s fundamentals that have made it a strong performer over many years and throughout the COVID period,” Bourke said.
Meanwhile, Solomons Flooring is setting up at the northern end of Burke Road following a deal negotiated by Fitzroys’ Tom Fisher. The high-exposure site at 682 Burke Road, close to the Prospect Hill Road intersection, was leased at $55,000 per annum on another long-term 5+5-year deal.
Burke Road – the major component of the Camberwell Junction precinct – achieved the biggest improvement in vacancies of Melbourne’s shopping strips throughout the COVID period, according to Fitzroys’ latest Walk the Strip report, firming from 11.3% to 7.3%.
Fisher also recently secured Bendigo Bank on a three-year term at 499 Riversdale Road, immediately next door to the corner building at Camberwell Junction, and 564 Burke Road to Buff Nails in a 5-year deal.
“Camberwell Junction stands to benefit from ongoing residential development and the region’s growing office market, as flexible working arrangements become more widely accepted and put a focus on highly-accessible inner-suburban locations with quality retail, hospitality and lifestyle amenity,” Fisher said.
“Melbourne’s shopping strip precincts provide something that the online world can’t. A visit to the local shopping strip is anticipatory. They satisfy a need for social and physical interaction, and provided a change of scenery during the day while Melburnians have endured lockdowns.”
CBD Hotel Changes Hands
An investor has bought the City Limits hotel building in the CBD’s Chinatown precinct, and the adjoining car park, for $14 million. The new owners plan on refurbishing the hotel at 20-22 Little Bourke Street and redeveloping the car park at number 18.
The combined triple-fronted 471sqm site has a 9-level building with 32 strata-titled studio apartments.
The vendors, the Hong Kong-based Chow family. bought the property in the 1990s for less than $4 million.
New Richmond Development Pocket Emerges
A company linked to developer Little Projects is paying around $20 million for the long-held Geoff Bade premises in Richmond, across the road from a site recently bought by Fortis and earmarked for a $90 million mixed-use development.
LPC, owned by Little Projects directors Paris Lechte and Leighton Pyke, put a caveat on the 1,461 sqm site at 9-15 Brighton Street.
Fortis paid $19 million for the 1,300sqm 8 Brighton Street corner site last year, and has lodged plans for a 13-storey building with 70 apartments and 2,100sqm of office space.
Disclosure: The weekly Fitzroys Property Wrap is for information only on transactions in the Melbourne property market. Fitzroys provides this information as a public service. We are not purporting that all sales and leases within this report were transacted by Fitzroys. Terms/Privacy © Copyright 2021 Fitzroys.