Record sale on Brighton’s glitz strip

Brighton’s Church St shopping strip remains hot property, with a new commercial price record set, as retail vacancy rates continuing to tumble.

The $2.41 million sale of a two-storey building housing stationary company Smiggle has smashed the thriving fashion hotspot’s land rate benchmark.

The price of 67 Church St equated to $39,000 per sqm — which Fitzroys agent Mark Talbot called “unprecedented”.

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The property sold following fierce competition between five bidders.

The commercial building is currently leased by stationary company Smiggle.

Talbot says the auction campaign attracted more than 90 inquiries from local and offshore investors. There were 120 people in the crowd on auction day.

“This presented an exceptional opportunity to acquire a freehold investment leased to an established, renowned tenant in the retail core of Melbourne’s number one shopping strip,” he says.

Talbot points to the shopping strip’s strong reputation for commercial success as the reason retail space was rarely sold. He expects rental rates to continue to rise.

The store sits near the intersection of Carpenter St and Church St.

He also says the shopping strip seemed to do better than other’s struggling in Melbourne because of its large and affluent customer base from Bayside.

Fitzroys have had a number of successful sales in the street, with a similar sized property housing Silvermaple Boutique at 2/50 Church St selling for $1.95 million last year.

A number of high-end retail stores are found down Church St Brighton.

The shop, which offered a yield of 3.2 per cent, was purchased by a local investor, who is on the market for more property in Bayside.

Fitzroys confirmed the new owner had no intention to occupy the property, and would continue with the current lease.

Church St remains one of the most tightly held shopping strips in Melbourne, with vacancy rates falling from 2.7% to 1.3% over the past year, according to Fitzroys data.

A property at 2/50 Church St sold last year for $1.95 million.

The building at 67 Church St was sold by a family who had owned it for 34 years.

Smiggle has occupied the 110sqm space for almost 15 years, and have a five-year lease until July 2021 at an annual rate of $77,250.

This article from Leader Newspapers originally appeared as “Brighton’s Church St shops see strong results as new property sale record set”.