Moonee Ponds is firmly on the radar of investors as an emerging lifestyle hub, while assets occupied by popular food and beverage tenants that have traded throughout the uncertain COVID period continue to attract the market’s attention.
Fitzroys’ Chris Kombi and Ervin Niyaz sold the home of popular café Dear Abbey at 23A Gladstone Street, part of the magnificent Wesleyan Church redevelopment, for $1.885 million.
More than 75 interested parties made enquiries with the buyer being a local investor.
The immaculate 300sqm building is leased to the highly successful café Dear Abbey on a long-term 5+5+5+5-year deal, returning $100,000 per annum plus GST.
It was purpose built for hospitality use in the front section of the old church grounds fronting Gladstone Street, and the area on title also includes the front section of the old church building. The self-contained two-level premises also includes the church’s spire, accessed via an internal spiral stair case and includes an office and storage area.
Niyaz said the generational development boom of Moonee Ponds had further enhanced the area as it becomes a lifestyle hub for Melbourne’s north-west. Dear Abbey is a prime example of the growing offering of cafés, bars and eateries springing up in the precinct, including The Mighty Moonee Ponds, Ascot Food and Wine, and Holmes Hall.
“This was a rare opportunity to invest in a well-regarded suburb with a proven track record for capital growth,” Niyaz said.
“These hospitality venues complement the supermarkets, service retail and specialty offering of the Puckle Street precinct, and will continue to benefit from the ongoing development that will add further to the catchment, while the area’s fully-rounded lifestyle offering also attracts more visitors from the surrounds.”
Kombi said investors continued to look for retail and commercial property assets that offered secure leases to quality tenants, in locations with attractive growth prospects.
“Quality food and beverage tenants have been able continue trading throughout COVID, offering investors further peace of mind that they can count on a secure income stream.”
Fitzroys has recently sold multiple investments securely-leased to food and beverage tenants including 432 Centre Road, Bentleigh, leased to another popular local café, Little Tommy Tucker, 488 Centre Road, home to ASX-listed Domino’s, as well as 124 Lygon Street, Carlton, occupied by restaurant Smile Thai and 30 Johnston Street, Fitzroy leased to Burger Road.
Located within the booming Moonee Ponds activity centre, the 23A Gladstone Street is directly opposite more than 500 car parks and a Woolworths supermarket, and in immediate proximity to the high-performing Puckle Street shopping strip that anchors the surrounding retail and shopping centre offering, including Woolworths, Moonee Ponds Central.
Puckle Street has one of Melbourne’s better-performing strips over the past 12 to 18 months, according to Fitzroys’ forthcoming Walk the Strip report.
Following the Mason Square tower on the 1.34-hectare former Moonee Ponds market site, development focus now switches to Penny Lane at 17-23 Puckle Street, which will comprise apartments, retail, hospitality and a Palace Cinema, and the future $2 billion overhaul of the nearby Moonee Valley Racecourse that will include multiple residential and commercial buildings, adding a further 2,000 dwellings.