King of Melbourne casual dining Chris Lucas buys in Potts Point

The king of Melbourne casual dining Chris Lucas has bought a Sydney bolthole ahead of the opening of the Chin Chin restaurant in Surry Hills this month.

Lucas, head of The Lucas Group, has quietly paid $3.4 million for a two bedroom Potts Point apartment. 

It is in the 2015 built SJB Architects designed Wylde Street building ensuring the Geelong-born restaurateur gets gun-barrel views over Sydney Harbour.

Lucas is spending time in Sydney as any day now his first restaurant outside of Melbourne will be opened.

Chin Chin in Melbourne still sees lines of customers seeking meals at the popular Flinders Lane eatery which opened in 2011.

It will be located on the ground floor of the Griffiths Teas Building on Wentworth Avenue.

Lucas is viewed as something of a serial restaurateur, being joined in his next Melbourne project with Sydney restaurateurs Martin Benn and Vicki Wild, who closed their acclaimed fine diner Sepia to make the move to Melbourne to join Lucas in running the new venture. His group are set to employ 1000 staff, including 200 chefs by year's end.

His two bedroom, two bathroom Potts Point apartment last traded off the plan in 2013 when Oceanlinx chief financial officer Colin Parbery paid $2.45 million.

Michael and Judy McMahon, the longtime owners of Rose Bay's iconic restaurant Catalina's, were previous owners in the complex.

The couple sold their Potts Point apartment late last year for $3.3 million having paid $2.6 million for the three bedroom apartment off the plan in 2013.

This article first appeared in the Sunday Telegraph.