Capital Gain
Clifton Hill’s Royal Hotel has been snapped up for $5.51 million by a local publican keen to revive the pub’s fortunes.
Rebecca Feingold, who has revived the Leinster Tavern in Gold Street, Collingwood, as the thriving Goldy’s Tavern, made the winning bid for the imposing three-storey Royal, on the corner of Spensley and Berry streets.
“I’m stoked. I’ve loved this place for years,” Feingold told Capital Gain.
A crowd of about 200 sprawled across the intersection to watch the sunny lunchtime auction – most of them locals or former residents keen to check out the bar and the rooms upstairs.
Built in 1889, the village pub is on a 736-square-metre site and has been largely closed for the past 10 years, apart from the bottle shop and a small gin distillery operated by the vendor’s family.
When auctioneer Paul Tzamalis noted the neighbourhood “was arguably dry, but the doors might be reopening soon”, a murmur of approval ran through the thirsty crowd.
Once a tough working-class neighbourhood, the inner-northern suburbs enclave is now stacked with high-earning professionals (who were obviously hard at work during the auction).
A handful of bids were drawn out from three parties before the pub almost passed in on a vendor bid of $5.5 million. Feingold’s representative then made a final $10,000 bid to secure the pub.
The vendors, the Gudic family, bought the pub in 1985 from Carlton & United Breweries, paying with the purchase of “5000 class 52 redeemable preference shares”.
The complex transaction took place during the heady days of the Elders IXL takeover of CUB during the late John Elliott’s management.
Colliers agents Ben Baines and Lucas Soccio ran the auction campaign. Locals ought to be delighted with the outcome.
Highway pub
Meanwhile, on the city’s northern fringe, the Kalkallo Hotel has come to market. The lease at 1324 Hume Highway expires in June 2027, so the pub needs a good operator to bring the bars back to life.
It’s on a corner 2040-square-metre site on one of the country’s busiest highways, with 60,000 vehicles a day travelling past its doors.
The hotel is next door to the 1140-hectare Stockland Cloverton estate and across the road from the Merrifield Business Park.
The records show it last changed hands in 2022 for $5.12 million and was bought by Adam Brick’s Brix Projects.
Savills’ Matthew George has the listing and is expecting about $3 million.
Chancery Lane
Still in the hospitality sector, Scott Pickett’s Chancery Lane restaurant at 430 Little Collins Street has finally sold for the rock-bottom price of $3.75 million.
The space beneath Normanby Chambers had been for sale several times over the past couple of years with expectations as low as $7 million and as high as $10 million.
Pickett’s now-collapsed Rogue Traders paid $8 million in 2022. At the time, Rogue Traders was backed by the First Guardian superannuation fund, which has gone down the drain along with $500 million in super savings.
It’s understood a deal was nearly signed, sealed and delivered just as Rogue Traders was tipped into administration in 2025.
Corporate undertaker KordaMentha ran the sales process, with Colliers agents Christian Hatzis, Matt Stagg and Tim McIntosh running the campaign. They declined to comment on the price.
However, Hatzis said they had received 100 inquiries and five offers for the restaurant.
Most of Pickett’s restaurants continue to operate with new financial backing from established investor Salter Brothers, which runs a series of funds in the hotel and restaurant sector.
Meanwhile, the landlord of Pickett’s Smith St Bistrot in Collingwood is selling the 344-square-metre venue.
Pickett’s newly established company Bottier 300 – set up in December 2025 – has a five-year lease on the restaurant (with options extending to 2039) and pays $120,205 a year in rent.
Jones Real Estate’s Paul Jones is expecting a price in the mid $2 millions for the restaurant. Records show 300 Smith Street last changed hands in 2014 for $2.45 million.
And down in South Yarra, at 159 Domain Road, Julien Moussi has opened Kiki’s Tavern in Pickett’s former Matilda space.
Big shoes to fill
Property players have a second chance to snap up some very long-held Chapel Street property.
The Rosenberg family, former shoe retailers, are selling 59-65 Chapel Street, three shops they have owned for more than 100 years.
CBRE agents Alex Brierly, Nathan Mufale, David Minty and Jing Jun Heng have the listing, which could fetch as much as $8 million, depending on the aspirations of any future buyers.
Height levels for that end of Chapel Street have recently been rezoned and the 828 square-metre site, which backs on to the Melbourne Bowls Club, could get an eight-storey tower.
Early interest is apparently coming from developers and large hospitality groups, Brierly told Capital Gain.
“It’s not a passive investment,” he said.
The Save The Children op shop has a short-term lease on 59-61 Chapel Street, while the neighbouring property is vacant.
Rosenberg Shoes, which specialised in shoes for big feet, shut its doors in mid-2024 after 120 years of trade.
Last week, the Prahran Mechanics Institute sold its Chapel Street premises to a local buyer for more than $3 million and a yield of 4.9 per cent.
The 259-261 Chapel Street shop, which had been held by the PMI since the 1850s, didn’t sell at auction, despite two bidders.
Fitzroys agents Lewis Waddell and David Bourke, with Lane Commercial’s Peter Lane got the transaction over the line after it passed in at $3 million.
It’s on a 366-square-metre site, giving the deal a land rate of more than $8200 a square metre.
The purchaser is planning to hold the property long-term, Waddell said.
It’s leased to sportswear retailer Daily Jocks, Connection Perfumes + Gifts, and Bennett’s boxing gym.
Property cycle
Namibian-based supermarket-chain owner Ingo Woermann is offloading the Port Melbourne building he bought in 2017 for $14.5 million.
The 180 Bay Street transaction was notable at the time for settling in just seven days. It was also at the top of a property cycle now long ago in the distant past.
Jones Real Estate’s Paul Jones and Vincent Lam have the listing and are expecting about $12 million.
Developer CostaFox bought it in 2016 as a distressed asset and made a 40 per cent profit selling it after 18 months.
The 1134-square-metre building is leased to Bupa, Priceline and Witchery, and returns about $641,545 a year in rent. It’s on a 1018-square-metre piece of land opposite Coles.
“Large freehold holdings of this scale are increasingly difficult to secure on established inner-city shopping strips, particularly when they come with existing income from recognised national tenants,” Jones said.
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