Hawthorn East premises of Paul Mathis’ FireChief restaurant listed for March auction

The striking glass-fronted premises of Paul Mathis’s FireChief restaurant in Camberwell Junction has been listed for auction on March 21.

The property, at 169 Camberwell Road, Hawthorn East, was formerly an auto shop before being entirely refurbished to incorporate FireChief plus laneway café Goldilocks in late 2011.

The 455-square-metre site has 10.67 metre street frontage to Camberwell Road and caters for suburban moviegoers, being just 100 metres from the Rivoli Cinemas.

The property is being marketed by Grita Angelucci from John H Castran and Fitzroys agents Chris Kombi and Mitchell Humphreys.

Kombi tells Property Observer, the restaurant premises are expected to sell in a price range from $4 million to  $4.3 million - a yield of around 6%.

"We have received interest from private investors. Interest has been good," he says.

The Italian restaurant, with its three pizza ovens and Naples-trained chef, is licensed for 200 seated patrons at any one time.

The property is leased to Mathis for seven years with two further seven-year terms and returns $260,000 per annum plus GST with fixed annual increases.

Mathis is a celebrated “concept” chef with FireChief renowned for its pizzas, which include a classic minimalist Naples-style pizza and an ‘Aussie’ pizza topped with an egg.

The restaurant and cafe are located within the Camberwell Junction activity hub next to Dan Murphy’s, Dick Smith, Rivoli Cinemas and to the rear, The Well Shopping Centre, Coles Supermarket and Burke Road’s retail precinct.

Other eateries established by Paul Mathis in Melbourne over the past two decades include Blue Train, Automatic, Taxi, Transport Hotel, Soul Mama, Chocolate Buddha, SOS and the 100 Mile Café.