Fancy a Brunetti cake for your commute? Pasticceria nabs key Metro spot

At the Collins Street entrance of the new Town Hall station is a 35-square-metre kiosk which the Italian cafe chain, led by Yuri Angele, has signed a lease for in expectation of serving high-quality cake and coffee to a throng of commuters.

Brunetti first opened its pasticceria in Carlton before expanding to other locations. The cafe’s owners, brothers Fabio and Yuri Angele, split the business in 2021 into two different arms – Brunetti Classico (controlled by Fabio) and Brunetti Oro.

Yuri’s Brunetti Oro has outlets in Flinders Lane, Myer Melbourne, Brunswick and Chadstone. Its new Town Hall station is expected to open by the end of this year.

“I’m incredibly excited to open our new Brunetti Oro store at Town Hall. This is a place that holds a deep personal and historical significance. City Square was home to the very first Brunetti in Melbourne’s CBD,” Yuri said.

Colliers’ Tom Larwill, who is managing the leasing with colleague Thomas Macrae, said the pasticceria signed a long-term lease. He said more than 90 per cent of retail space at the Metro Tunnel’s five new stations – Town Hall, Anzac, State Library, Parkville and Arden – is now leased or under offer.

Other tenants to sign include KFC, Starbucks, IGA, 7-Eleven, Sushi Jiro, and Sushi Sushi.

Storage U-turn

A large corner block that was sold for $14.3 million by the wealthy and prominent taxi-owning Gange family about 18 months ago is back on the market.

Self-storage business StorHub, which snapped up the 24-42 Alexandra Parade warehouse from the Ganges in December 2023, appears to have changed its mind about developing the 2447-square-metre corner site in Clifton Hill.

The property is now back on the market through Cushman & Wakefield’s George Davies, Raphael Favas, Oliver Hay and Anthony Kirwan in an EoI campaign closing late July, with an asking price around $13 million plus.

“This is one of the most strategic and versatile sites we’ve seen in the inner north in recent years,” said Davies.

The three Gange brothers, Kevin, John and Alfred, were big players in the taxi industry, operating about 160 licences and running the Silver Top and Astoria franchises through the family’s Gange Corporation, which offloaded the Alexandra Parade property.

Singapore-headquartered StorHub has operations around the globe. It’s also expanding rapidly on Australia’s east coast developing multiple self-storage sites. In Melbourne, it’s constructing on 316 Governor Road in Braeside after already opening four self-storage facilities in NSW, where it has another two on the way, as well as one in Queensland.

Its Alexandra Parade property, between Wellington and Smith streets, is close to the old Fitzroy Gasworks, where the state government recently shortlisted developers for the decontaminated site’s final housing parcel. The Gasworks will hold about 1200 new inner-city homes when finished.

Boutique retail

Singaporean investors are on the move in Melbourne’s suburbs, too.

A Singaporean buyer has forked out $1.85 million to snaffle a shop at 12-18 Claremont Avenue in Malvern in an off-market deal. The island site is nestled in a boutique local retail strip just off Glenferrie Road close to Malvern train station.

The 225-square-metre property, leased to Pizza Religion, netted the seller, who had operated a business on the site for 12 years, a yield of 5.73 per cent.

Further east in Kew, a building leased to a cafe at 916 Glenferrie Road sold for $1,338,000 on a yield of 4.17 per cent.

Town and Country, a garden supply and cafe business, occupies two adjoining properties in Glenferrie Road. Following the offshore investment theme, the portion leased to the cafe at No. 916 sold to another Singaporean investor.

“With offshore interest continuing to rise and strong buyer appetite across the market, currentconditions present a compelling opportunity for retail property owners,” Colliers agent Lucas Soccio, who negotiated both deals, said.

Little village

While on the topic of retail in Melbourne’s inner east, it’s worth pointing out that a multistory showroom and office at 883-889 High Street in Armadale is for sale.

Who knows, maybe it, too, will be in the sights of an overseas buyer? But for now, JLL agents are spruiking it as “Armadale’s final crown jewel” and as a premium development opportunity. It’s expected to fetch about $20 million.

The buildings belong to lawyer Peter Mitrakas, one of Melbourne’s most ardent architecture-focused property investors, and house his office as well as the Graham Geddes Antiques store.

The property, on a 1585-square-metre parcel, backs on to 23-27 Osment Street and the Frankston railway line near Armadale station. Mitrakas was the reluctant seller of the old art deco Commonwealth Bank building in Albert Park about five years ago.

The two buildings now up for sale are likely to attract developers. A couple of doors down, Nicole Chow’s United Asia Group built a seven-storey apartment building with a rooftop pool after swooping on Geddes’ original store at 875-881 High Street.

Geddes, who then went on to lease Mitrakas’ building, may soon be looking for another site for his antiques emporium.

JLL’s Jesse Radisich said the east end of High Street is evolving rapidly. “It’s a hot little pocket now with all the developments taking place. The big trend with High Street is that the action is moving down past Kooyoong Road. This is like its own little village,” he said.

Fuel stop

A fuel station in Keysborough that went to a boardroom auction sold for a whopping $2,507,000 above its reserve. The sale revved up when several deep-pocketed petrol station operators entered the fray.

“Twelve offers were received at the close of the first round expressions of interest, with the top six groups invited to participate in a boardroom auction,” agent Rorey James said.

The property was on the market after the first bid at $8.5 million. From there, fierce competition from some of Melbourne’s largest fuel operators drove the eventual price to $11,070,000, he said, reflecting a strong 4.61 per cent yield.

The servo at 745-751 Springvale Road in Keysborough is currently leased to EG Group and a separate car wash operator, with about 16 months left on the lease.