Private Victorian family outbid foreign interest for Chocolate Box Centre in Camberwell
Strong competition from local and offshore players saw Melbourne's prominent Chocolate Box Centre in Camberwell sell for more than $13 million.
A private Victorian family outbid a number of local and offshore buyers to acquire the 761-767 Burke Road property on a yield of sub 6%.
The property is leased to ASX listed retailer Kathmandu and two established local traders - The Chocolate Box and Short Black Cafe. Kathmandu provides about 60% of the total income at the property, which has a total net lettable area of circa 1,457 square metres.
Selling agents Mark Wizel, Justin Dowers and Rorey James of CBRE, in conjunction with David Bourke and Michael Ryan of Fitzroys, negotiated the sale on behalf of the owner another private Victorian family. Nine offers were received for the Burke Road property.
CBRE Director Mark Wizel said that while the predominant interest was from local investors there were a number of offshore investors in the bidding fray, including buyers from Singapore, Malaysia and mainland China.
“We are seeing a growing level of demand from Asian-based investors in well positioned Melbourne real estate,” he said.
"While demand was initially centred on development projects, this has widened more recently to also focus on longer term, passive retail investments with sound underlying fundamentals in both the CBD and surrounding suburbs.”
