South Yarra: Former Rah Bar nightclub, train station to be transformed into new venue
Only Hospitality Group founder Julien Moussi is planning to establish a new venue at the former South Yarra train station, once home to the Rah Bar nightclub.
Melbourne cafe mogul Julien Moussi has splashed $3.8m on the former South Yarra train station previously home to the iconic Rah Bah nightclub.
Undeterred by the troubles many hospitality businesses are facing, the Only Hospitality Group founder is planning to spend a further $2.5m or so to transform the heritage-listed 500sq m space at 163 Toorak Rd into a venue capable of hosting up to 600 people.
After closing the deal with Jones Real Estate, he is aiming to open the doors within 12 months.
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Mr Moussi is still finalising plans but said inspiration would come from sources including Arbory Bar & Eatery and the Garden State Hotel near Flinders St, as well as Los Angeles’ restaurant TAO — known for a 4.87m-tall statue of Buddhism’s bodhisattva Quan Yin.
“There will definitely be a fun culinary experience to it, it will be casual, fast-paced fun … music will be a pretty large part of the offering,” Mr Moussi said.
Rah Bar, famed for its grand stairway entrance and Moroccan-inspired bar, was a party hotspot throughout the 2000s and 2010s, but closed after the Covid pandemic hit.
The ex-nightclub waiting to be transformed …
… and how it looked in 2010.
Mr Moussi, an ex-VFL player who has opened more than 25 hospitality outlets including Bentwood Fitzroy, Camberwell’s My Other Brother (MOB), Hotel Collingwood, Geelong’s Pavilion and Malvern’s Juliette Coffee and Bread, said the South Yarra site’s uniqueness and history had won him over.
He is hoping to provide access from a rear courtyard at the circa-1862 building to the existing South Yarra station’s platform one via a Myki ticket gate, with a fence currently between the platform and the ex-nightclub’s eastern boundary.
Jones Real Estate managing director Paul Jones described the former station as “a landmark property”.
The staircase entrance which Mr Moussi described as “glamorous and dramatic”.
Mr Moussi, who still has 15 venues on his books, remains optimistic about his industry’s future.
The Herald Sun reported last week that more than 10 Melbourne restaurants have closed in 60 days, with some making as little as 60c from a $30 plate of food.
On Friday, some of the field’s leaders and operators held a crisis meeting in an attempt to rescue their livelihoods.
Julien Moussi has established more about 25 hospitality venues. Picture: Nicki Connolly.
Mr Moussi said he was lucky that his pubs have been going “really well” with customers still treating themselves once or twice a week or attending happy hour at local hotels, while demand for coffee remains strong at cafes.
“Everything’s always cyclical and you’re going to have good times and bad times – I’m confident it will turn around,” he said.
“Whilst it’s challenging, I think there’s a lot of positive times ahead, you’ve just got to ride the wave.”
The former train station’s facade on Toorak Rd.
In six weeks’ time, he is set to reopen the Beehive Hotel in Hawthorn after it was previously leased to a different hospitality group and operated as two restaurants.
He also emphasised the importance of eating at or ordering directly from a venue rather using a big-name online or mobile app delivery platform, some of which take a 35 per cent cut – or more – of an order’s value.
“People probably don’t realise that is the difference between a venue surviving or not,” Mr Moussi said.
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