Developer adds Geelong restaurant sites to portfolio
84 and 86 Yarra St, Geelong sold for $2.5m at auction.
A Geelong property developer has secured a Yarra St retail site to complete the set on a key strip.
Paul Votsaris bought the properties at 84 and 84 Yarra St for $2.5m at auction for the family’s Batman Group.
The shops – home to two restaurants – had been owned by the same family since 1980.
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Mr Votsaris opened bidding at $2 million and seemed to have secured the property as the crowd remained silent.
Auctioneer James Wilson confirmed the property was on the market after speaking with the vendor, which flushed out a second bidder, rival CBD landholder Frank Furnari.
84 Yarra St, Geelong, has been home to a Chinese restaurant since the building was erected.
Mr Votsaris said while plans are not set in stone yet, the purchase adds to two neighbouring sites the Batman group already owns.
“The VFA, which is next door and the old YMCA building, which is one of the oldest standing bank buildings in Victoria,” Mr Votsaris said.
“The group owns those two properties, so this was an important auction for us to get those two properties.
Pizzeria Adamo operated at 86 Yarra St, Geelong.
“It makes it a significant development site and is important for the continued revitalisation of central Geelong.”
The Batman group is a significant landholder within Geelong’s CBD, particularly in the popular West End Lt Malop St restaurant precinct where it has redeveloped a number of properties.
The group has also transformed old shops along Moorabool St, welcoming fitness businesses such as Anytime Fitness and Upstate Geelong to the CBD.
The Batman group has added 84 and 86 Yarra St to its portfolio which includes the neighbouring VFA and YMCA buildings.
The property is home to the Palace of the Orient Chinese restaurant and Pizzeria Adamo.
“They’re not the original lessees but it’s always been a Chinese restaurant and I don’t know if you came here as a kid but back in the day it was called the Summer Palace and next door was Australia Post,” Mr Wilson said.
“We legitimately though it would sell somewhere in the $2m bracket,” he said.
Mr Wilson said there had been a blend of buyers looking at the property as a going concern, other for the development potential, leveraging the second street frontage to Bank Place.
84 and 86 Yarra St, Geelong sold for $2.5m at auction.
“Ultimately for the purchaser, while he will rely on the leaseholds to some degree, it will be where they’ve got a vision to the develop it down the track in some shape or form.”
Mr Wilson said the broad Activity Centre zoning was encouraging revitalisation in the CBD.
“You can see retailers have gravitated heavily to the smaller shopping strips, but what the Activity 1 zoning allows for is a good blend of residential and also retail.
“You’re seeing a combination of residential coming back to the city and that ultimately is what will revitalise the CBD.”
The combined 634sq m property has two street frontages, including seven existing carparking spaces and an annual income of $88,500.
