A generational transaction marks the first retail investment sale of 2025 on Melbourne’s famous dining and lifestyle strip of Lygon Street, Carlton.

Fitzroys’ Chris Kombi and Ervin Niyaz sold 223 Lygon Street for $1.51 million, on behalf of owners who had held the property for 53 years.

Offered with vacant possession, the 2-storey 165sqm building comprises ground floor retail and first floor office, and is on 113sqm of freehold land with rear access via Lygon Lane.

Niyaz said the campaign generated interest from investors and owner-occupiers, with the purchaser a private Melbourne-based investor who knows both the property and location well.

“The purchaser is very familiar with the turnaround of Lygon Street since COVID, which has seen the strip come back in a big way, bringing confidence to investors and owner- occupiers alike about its credentials and trade prospects.”

Vacancies on Melbourne’s most famous dining strip are close to their lowest in years as Melburnians again embrace dining and eating out, tourists return in bigger numbers, and students come back to university. According to Fitzroys’ most recent Walk the Strip report, vacancies on Lygon Street have come down from 20.0% in the depths of COVID to now sit at a healthy 7.5%.

“Investors continue to turn to quality Melbourne shopping strip assets for security at a time of share market and residential market volatility,” Kombi said.

He added that this was a rare opportunity to establish a presence in a high foot-traffic lifestyle precinct that has a new lease of life, with an eclectic wave of new restaurants, eateries and bars opening up, complementing the traditional Italian classics, as well as popular national and local traders.