Coburg shops sell for first time in 126 years

Four historic Coburg shops have sold for the first time in 126 years. 

The shops with heritage-protected facades at 436-442 Sydney Rd were snapped up at auction for $4.12 million.

And the buyers will continue the tradition of family ownership, with a Fitzroy family winning the keys to the foursome on 698sqm.

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Gross Waddell sales agent Alex Ham says five bidders put up their hands in an auction that stretched almost an hour, with more than 100 bids made.

“The majority of buyers were investors who wanted to buy, refurbish and lease out the shops,” Ham says.

The Coburg shops were in the same family for 126 years.

“So it was very slow bidding with this number of investors competing against each other.”

Ham says the buyers plan to keep the shops as they are in the short term.

The shops, which have residences upstairs, were built in 1891 by builder Patrick Dunne. They have been passed down three generations of his family to the two sisters who took them to the successful auction on August 31.

Ham says the sisters would have been happy with any sale above $4 million.

This article from Leader Newspapers was originally published as “Tradition continues as family snaps up historic Coburg shops”.