Guy Grossi puts Bottega premises on the market
Melbourne restaurateur Guy Grossi is selling the premises of corporate lunchtime favourite Bottega on Bourke Hill, with market expectations above $5 million.
Mr Grossi owns the 1880s-built two-storey building at 72 – 74 Bourke Street with his wife Melissa, sister and business partner Liz Rodriguez and her husband, Grossi executive chef Chris Rodriguez. The family paid $2.38 million for the property in 2001 with Bottega opening its doors the following year.
Last year, the Grossi family expanded its Melbourne food empire with the opening of Pezzo on Flinders Lane.
Bottega is run by restaurateur Denis Lucey, who also owns Bistrot D’Orsay on Collins Street. It’s sandwiched between Mr Grossi’s renowned Grossi Florentino restaurant and another Melbourne Italian food landmark, Pellegrini’s Espresso Bar.
The Bottega premises will be sold with a lease to Mr Lucey, which was recently extended. Mr Lucey currently pays the Grossi family $211,940 per annum to operate from the heritage brick building which stands on a 198 square metre site and has eight metres of Bourke Street frontage.
Savills Australia’s Clinton Baxter, Nick Peden and Benson Zhou have been appointed to manage the expressions-of-interest campaign. Mr Baxter said opportunities to secure prime freehold properties below $10 million in the Melbourne CBD were increasingly rare.
“Bottega has become something of an institution among the city’s foodies so we expect strident competition among prospective buyers,” he added.
Mr Baxter said the current rental was well below current market levels, “leaving ample room for growth in the years to come”.
The offering of Bottega comes as Bourke Hill undergoes something of a revival with nearby 56-58 Bourke Street within the McCrossin Building, known as “Job Warehouse”, finally leased last year to a hospitality operator after being vacant for about five years.
Also under development is a new Le Meridien hotel (being constructed on the site of the former Metro Nightclub) at 30 Bourke Street, SP Setia’s $800 million Sapphire mixed-use project at 308 Exhibition Street, which includes a 500-room Shangri-La hotel, and QIC’s nearby 80 Collins Street.
“The east end of the CBD has always been the preferred location for investors, tourists and office workers,” Mr Baxter said.
