Investors show taste for Hawthorn cafe premises Rustica

Fitzroys has sold the Rustica Café premises under the hammer for $1.77 million, reflecting a yield for a sub-divided title arrangement of 3.5%.

Chris James and David Bourke sold the 121 Power Street property just a few months after the 111sqm shop was leased to the highly regarded Rustica Cafe Group.

James said the fiercely contested auction saw bidding from nine parties push the sale price to 20% above the reserve, and to a building rate of nearly $16,000 per sqm.

The high-exposure property is on the corner of Burwood Road, at the base of the prime development site “Maple”, and sold with a new five-year lease with options returning $62,500 per annum net.

James said the strength of the enquiry was a reflection of the demand for quality commercial property with ability to generate secure income as well as a vote of confidence for the area’s prospects.

“The inner-east has received a large number of medium and high-density residential and commercial developments in the area recently, and the high number of apartments in the pipeline is further underpinning demand from tenants for a presence through Hawthorn and to nearby Camberwell Junction and Burke Road,” he said.

The Rustica Café recently opened and follows the Rustica Canteen sites at Guildford Lane in Melbourne’s CBD and on Swan Street in Richmond, created by Fitzroy’s Rustica Sourdough founder Brenton Lang with Tristan White and Matt Vero.