The Brunswick Street, Fitzroy birthplace of international tea brand T2 is up for sale, offering the chance to acquire a true piece of Melbourne’s retail history.
Fitzroys’ Chris Kombi, Ervin Niyaz and Ben Liu 刘犇 are marketing 340 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy as well as the next door Blackout Restaurant and Lounge at 342 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. The properties will be offered via back-to-back auctions on Thursday, 13 June at 1pm on site.
The properties have been held within the same families since 1976.
Occupied by T2 since 1996, 340 Brunswick Street comprises a beautifully-presented 260sqm two-storey building, returning $82,396 per annum, with a frontage of 6.64 metres.
342 Brunswick Street is leased to the highly popular Blackout Restaurant and Lounge and returns $98,384 per annum. The property comprises a fully-activated 330sqm two-storey building with a generous frontage of 8.68 metres.
These classic buildings are on a strategic combined landholding of 363sqm in a highly sought-after position in the centre of the famous Brunswick Street, Fitzroy hospitality, entertainment and lifestyle precinct.
“This is an opportunity to acquire a true piece of Melbourne’s retail history,” Kombi said.
“This is the birthplace of a brand that as grown to become an iconic and beloved part of Melbourne and Australia’s retail scene.”
T2 was founded in 1996, opening the first store at 340 Brunswick Street. The company steadily expanded through Melbourne and Sydney in the following years, and had become a truly national company with 40 stores by 2013, the year it was acquired by multinational company Unilever in a circa-$60 million deal.
Midway through 2020, Unilever separated T2 into tea-focused entity Ekaterra - comprising over 30 brands including tea giant Lipton - which was purchased in late 2021 by global private equity firm CVC Capital Partners for $7 billion. T2 now has over 70 stores worldwide.
Next door on Brunswick Street, Blackout Restaurant & Lounge has become a highly acclaimed bar and wood-fired pizza and Middle Eastern cuisine restaurant, and a popular part of Brunswick Street’s nightlife scene.
Niyaz said, “The properties represent a generational opportunity to acquire a prime Brunswick Street investment, located in the absolute heart of one of Melbourne's most vibrant hospitality and lifestyle strips”.
“The properties offer strong cashflow from quality tenants, with great rental uplift and value-add prospects in the coming years. There’s consistently strong competition between tenants for space along he prime trading section Brunswick Street.”
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,” Niyaz 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.”
Liu said 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.