One of Brunswick’s most historic and distinctive buildings, the 1930s Spanish Mission-style building home to the original Brunswick Market, is being offered for sale.
Fitzroys’ Chris Kombi are Ervin Niyaz are marketing 1 Tripovich Street via Expressions of Interest closing Wednesday, 24 November at 3pm.
The rendered brick building is the only Spanish Mission-style market building ever constructed in Victoria, and retains a rare timber Belfast truss roof structure, in contrast to the Victorian-style shops and homes of Sydney Road. It comprised 71 shops and stalls in its market days during the Great Depression, and in more recent years had been used as a book store and dance studio.
It has just been beautifully renovated and currently trades as T.O.M.S. Place, a multi-tenanted flexible office space with 15 internal lockable offices on individual agreements, while the 910sqm building also includes four separate double-storey studio apartments, ranging from 25sqm to 29sqm, fronting Tripovich Street.
Currently, the property returns a combined $301,000 per annum net, with projected rental of $380,000 per annum net.
The building is on a 710sqm site with a commanding frontage of almost 23m to Tripovich Street and rear access from Merrifield Street, in the epicentre of Brunswick, and literally just metres from the suburb’s famous eateries, bars and Sydney Road shops, as well as Brunswick train station, the Route 19 tram, and education and recreation facilities.
“This is a genuine slice of local history,” Kombi said.
“This is an incredibly rare opportunity to acquire a landmark character building of this size and nature, positioned at the core of one of Melbourne’s most coveted and popular suburbs.”
He said buyers would note the property’s strong passing income and flexible lease profile, while presenting low maintenance investment given its 2020 refurbishment.
“During COVID there has been a surge in demand for small, affordable office spaces in highly-accessible locations with quality hospitality offerings, with many people preferring to work closer to home while flexible working arrangements are in vogue.”
Niyaz said the property is perfectly positioned within the Anstey precinct, the most densely populated section of Brunswick, and the property is set to benefit from further planned residential development nearby.
“That demand for office spaces from local residents at the property’s doorstep will only continue to intensify,” Niyaz said, adding that many of the property’s current occupiers are local residents.
Just a few metres away on adjacent Ballarat Street, Assemble will soon begin building a rent-with-the-option-to-buy residential development, and US group Hines has just bought a 4,247sqm site for a 250-apartment build-to-rent project.