One of the first tests for Melbourne’s prime shopping strip investment market in 2024 will be the generational offering of one Brunswick Street, Fitzroy’s most dominant buildings.
Chris Kombi, Ervin Niyaz and Ben Liu of Fitzroys are marketing 320-324 Brunswick Street, which is going to auction on Thursday, 14 March at 2pm on-site.
The campaign marks the first time the irreplaceable triple-storey freehold, known as the Shawcross Building, has been offered to the market since 1981. A private family is the vendor.
The 580sqm building features a towering brick façade in the American Romanesque style and comprises two ground-floor shops and two light-filled upper levels, on a valuable corner landholding of 314sqm with on-site car parking. It has an expansive frontage of 15.24 metres to Brunswick Street, 20.22 metres to Argyle Street, plus laneway frontage.
The property is 100% leased to three tenants - Shawcross Pizza, Lost Boys Bar and Brunswick Street Gallery - returning $227,668 per annum plus outgoings and GST.
“This is a generational opportunity to acquire one of Brunswick Street's most iconic and high-profile buildings, located in the absolute heart of one of Melbourne's most vibrant hospitality and lifestyle strips,” Kombi said.
“Investors can acquire one of the most dominant properties in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, and secure a strong cashflow from quality tenants, with great rental uplift and value-add prospects in the coming years.”
Occupying the area’s prime corner position of Brunswick Street and Argyle Street, the property is in a highly sought-after, tightly-held location surrounded by popular restaurants, bars, cafes, retailers and a surging night scene, including The Fitz, The Evelyn Hotel, Veggie Bar, Mario’s, The Provincial Hotel, Rice Paper Scissors, The Night Cat, Kewpie, Bar Open, Black Pearl and Hecho en Mexico - just to name a few.
“Properties in this part of Brunswick Street are rarely offered to the market, and with good reason. There is consistent demand from quality retailers and hospitality operators looking to take up space and be a part of the action.”
Vacancies on Melbourne’s archetypal inner north hospitality and lifestyle strip are at their lowest in years as Melburnians again embraced shopping, dining and eating out. According to Fitzroys’ most recent Walk the Strip report, vacancies on Brunswick Street, Fitzroy now sit at just 4.6%.
“Prime assets in Melbourne’s iconic shopping strips are offering excellent investment credentials,” Kombi said.
“The strips are currently experiencing a real period of renewal.”
He said Yarra Council has promoted significant development throughout Fitzroy and Collingwood in recent years, demonstrated by the number of major projects in different stages of planning, construction and completion.
“More people want to live, work and play in highly accessible areas with quality lifestyle attributes, and the major influx of residential and commercial development throughout the area has resulted in a huge population boom that’s further underpinned the viability of Brunswick Street.”
Brunswick Street is well-serviced by public transport, with tram services operating along Brunswick Street itself and bus services along Johnson Street and Victoria Parade, while Victoria Parade and other major arterial roads Punt Road and Hoddle Street, Alexandra Parade and the Eastern Freeway are all close by and easily accessible.